Something About a Heart
by Moondalian
Summary: AU: During a camping trip gone wrong, Roxas and Sora are drawn into the world of demons, keys that are apparently used as swords, and plain insanity. Now they have to defeat Heartless and Nobodies to save a friend and-of course!-the world. AkuRoku, SoRiku
1. Something About a Camping Trip

**Authoress: Moondalian  
>Editor: ShounenSuki<br>Summary: AU: During a camping trip gone horribly wrong, Roxas and Sora are drawn into the world of demons, giant keys that are apparently supposed to be used as swords, and plain insanity. Now, they're forced to defeat Heartless and Nobodies to save a friend and — of course! — the world.  
>Pairings: Axel x Roxas, Riku x Sora<br>Dedication: To Karai and especially to her nonexistent attention span. If that attention span had actually been there, I wouldn't have been able to steal her ideas and write them myself XD Thanks Rairai!**

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><p><strong>So yeah, I haven't been around for quite some time, but now I'm back! As the dedication suggests, this idea was originally conceived by my friend Karai but because she's rather bad at working out lengthy fanfics she's letting me use it. For any new readers, I update multi-chaptered fanfics every weekend so expect weekly updates. I've got the fanfics written up to about chapter 12 but because the plot kept deciding it wanted to be different, I've got some major rewrites to do in certain chapters. I might be a day or so off schedule because of this, so forgive me for those times. Now, R&amp;R folks!<strong>

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><p>-<strong><em>-<span>:<span>_ 01 :-**_-_**  
><strong>**Something About A Camping Trip **

"_A recently conducted investigation shows that in the past 75 years, the number of children that have been abducted and never found again has been rising. Especially in the past 20 years the numbers have seen a dramatic increase. Parents are—"_

Roxas grimaced as he walked into the living room and heard the programme his mother was listening to. His mother had always been on the paranoid side, and programmes like this only made things worse. Sadly, his mother had a knack for finding them by accident and once she'd started listening, she wouldn't let anyone change the channel until it was over.

In Roxas' opinion it was a miracle he knew where babies came from. Then again, his mother hadn't exactly been the one who had told him.

Making sure that his mother was too fascinated with the programme to notice him, Roxas quickly ducked into the kitchen and tried to be as quiet as possible as he made two lunch boxes for himself and his brother, Sora. They would be going on a school trip for several days in only a few hours, but Roxas doubted they would be getting anything to eat until they'd settled in that evening. Having something to eat during the trip there would probably be a good idea. If he could stay quiet enough while making the lunch boxes and avoid his mother until she'd calmed down a little from watching this stupid programme, everything would just blow over.

Probably.

Potentially?

Hopefully.

Roxas sighed, _'Right, and Sora doesn't manage to get himself into trouble every day.'_ He shook his head, trying in vain to ignore the growing sense of dread in his gut.

Just as he'd put everything away and was trying to open the door to the living room as quietly as possibly so he could slip past his mother again, the door opened and he found himself face-to-face with the exact person he'd been trying to avoid. He cringed inwardly at the expression on his mother's face; one of determination and a desire to lock her children up in cages so nothing would ever happen to them.

"You're not going."

"Yes we are."

"You'll get abducted."

"No we won't."

His mother crossed her arms and looked at him stubbornly, "Children are being abducted more and more these days. It isn't safe to let you go on this trip."

"If children are being abducted more and more it really won't matter where we are when it happens." Roxas pointed out. He saw his mother's mouth opening to dispute him and quickly cut her off before she could say anything. "Besides, the trip has already been paid for and you know dad doesn't like it when we waste money."

His mother's mouth closed but she didn't move a muscle. Roxas waited for her to either step aside or open her mouth once more to forbid him from going on the trip. The fact that she'd gone silent at the mention of his father was definitely a good sign though.

It wasn't that his father was a bad man or abusive in any way — far from it. His father usually went along with anything his mother said. Then, if the demands she'd made had been ridiculous enough, once his mother's back was turned his father would simply give him and Sora whatever they'd wanted. This system kept his mother sane — or as sane as she was on a daily basis — and both him and Sora happy.

This was how almost everything was handled except for anything money-related. They weren't poor but not exactly rich either. His father hated it when money was wasted and when it was, his father was the one to try and lock someone in a cage — though for completely different reasons. Paying for a school trip that was by no means cheap and then not going definitely qualified as 'wasteful'.

Roxas watched as his mother's face slowly turned from stubborn to apprehensive, but resigned. The odds of him and Sora getting kidnapped were probably not high enough to start a fight with his father over.

As his mother stepped away hesitantly, Roxas smiled and gave her a quick hug, "Don't worry, I'll make sure Sora will be safe."

"And who will keep you safe?" his mother sighed, hugging him back.

Roxas shrugged. He could take care of himself just fine. Sora was the one that was a magnet for trouble. He doubted his mother would accept that answer though. "The teacher?"

His mother was far from convinced but let him run back upstairs regardless, her worried eyes following his every move as he went.

Sora looked up from the suitcase he was packing as Roxas entered, only barely managing to catch the lunch box that Roxas threw at him. "That took you long."

"Mom was watching something again."

Sora cringed as well, "Are we staying home?" the crestfallen look on the brunet's face would have been enough to break anyone's heart.

"I somehow convinced her to let us go." Sora stared at him in awe and Roxas grinned, "I'm awesome, you know that."

Sora grinned as well, "Amazingly awesome."

They laughed for a moment before continuing to pack their suitcases. There were only a few more hours before they wouldn't have to worry about their mother's paranoia for a few days. Only a few more hours until they could try and drive their teachers insane. Only a few more hours until they could sit around a campfire, joking about how their father would now have to handle their mother all by himself.

Only a few more hours.

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><p>The Destiny Islands were a group of abandoned islands a two hours' boat trip off the coast of Twilight Town. People had once lived there but for reasons Roxas had never bothered to find out about, they'd all left. Recently the islands had been bought up by someone who had decided to turn the place into a survival camp of sorts. The village that had been left behind by the previous inhabitants had been torn down and several large complexes had replaced it, ready to house large groups of people that wanted to spend their time on the islands.<p>

Roxas stared up at the large complexes as everyone came to a stop in front of them, something inside of him finding it a shame that the village — although he'd never seen it — had been replaced with the large buildings. They seemed so impersonal, something made all the worse by the tidiness of the place as they were the first visitors since the camp had been opened.

"Dude, stop staring at the damned buildings as if they did something wrong." Roxas glanced to his left to see Hayner, one of his closest friends, rolling his eyes at him. Roxas frowned at the other's words.

"What?"

Hayner gave him a strange look, "You were glaring at the things as if they'd just killed your puppy. You okay, Roxas?"

Roxas shrugged. He hadn't even noticed that he'd been glaring at the buildings. For some reason they just felt off to him, "I'm fine. I was just thinking they looked more like a prison than a place I'd actually want to spend my time."

Hayner shrugged as well, "It's better than being at school. Besides, there's a forest just past them so just look at that instead or something."

Roxas glanced past the complexes and towards the large forest not far behind them. Before he could comment on it, a timid voice spoke up from behind them, "There's something wrong with that forest."

He turned to see an auburn-haired girl staring at the forest apprehensively. Kairi's hands were playing absently with the straps of her backpack, her eyes focussed on the forest as if she was expecting something to jump out of it and attack them at any moment now.

Sora, standing beside her, cocked his head curiously, "What do you mean, 'something wrong'?"

Kairi frowned, her eyes looking away from the forest for only a split-second to look at Sora before they went back to staring at the trees up ahead, "I don't know. It just feels… wrong." One of her hands clenched around the strap it had been playing with as she finally managed to tear her gaze away from the trees, though with obvious difficulty. She opened her mouth to speak again when Miss Taylor, one of the teachers that had been left in charge of them, called for them to be quiet. Kairi closed her mouth again, turning to face the teacher and listen to her. Her eyes continued to flicker to the forest every so often though, her hand never unclenching.

Roxas stared at the odd behaviour, wondering what was wrong with her. Kairi was one of the girls that didn't care much about her looks beyond looking decently presentable and found having fun far more important than dressing up to try and impress a boy. She still had more than enough female friends in their class and was dragged away by them quite often, giggling along with them about a boy one of her friends liked. Still, she was far from the stereotypical girl that liked to spend her entire day in a clothes store.

She wasn't the type of girl that was easily frightened either. In fact, she'd scared all of them on several occasions and they still needed to get back at her for quite a few of those times. Seeing her like this was strange.

Not to mention that it made him want to go into the forest to find out what was so wrong with it.

"There are a few things we need to settle first." Roxas' attention was torn away from his thoughts as Miss Taylor started speaking. "Firstly, I'll be assigning you all to a room. Each room will have ten beds and boys and girls will naturally be separated."

Hayner cursed.

"After you're all done settling in we'll have dinner together. After that you'll be free to do as you please except the forest—," she motioned to the forest behind the complexes, "—is off limits. The owner of the islands has warned us that because the islands have been abandoned for so long, the forest has no more visible paths and anyone could get lost in it very easily. Is everything clear?"

There was some mumbling that sounded like everyone agreed, their attention far from focused on the teacher. As Miss Taylor started dividing them into groups, Roxas and Hayner turned to each other with a grin, "That forest sounds like more fun by the second."

Roxas nodded in agreement, "Yeah, and now that you can't get to Olette anyway," Hayner glared at him but Roxas ignored it, "we need something else to do."

Sora frowned, "But Miss Taylor just told us we couldn't go in there." Next to him, Kairi had gone pale at their words and was staring in mild horror at them.

Hayner rolled his eyes, "That's what makes it _more_ fun. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how you and Roxas are related."

"You're not the only one. I think I was adopted or something." Roxas chuckled as Sora sulked at his reply, giving the other a quick noogie. He grinned down at Sora, receiving a smile in return though the brunet tried his very best to glare at him, "Roxas! Let go!"

"You're really going to go in there?" Kairi asked, her eyes now flicking to the forest and back to Roxas. Roxas just shrugged at her, "I don't know, sounds like more fun than hanging out here all day."

Kairi was about to protest, her hands clutching the straps of her backpack even tighter, but then thought better of it and shook her head as if deciding that she was just imagining things. Before she could change her mind again her name was called and she walked towards the teacher. Roxas, Sora and Hayner shared a look before simply shrugging the odd behaviour off.

Girls were weird.

After they'd all put their things away and they'd had dinner — if one could call what they'd been given food — they decided to play some struggle. After a few matches Miss Taylor came running up to stop them because she thought it was far too dangerous a game to play, but no one really listened until Roxas had gotten his hands on a second bat and had started grinning like a madman. Everyone knew Roxas was practically unbeatable once he'd gotten his hands on two bats and Roxas had never really seemed to care that it was against the rules. He wasn't about to start caring now.

Around nine, once it had become dark, their first survival activity was announced and they were led to a small shed away from the complexes. They were going 'spelunking' and after getting lost several times, everyone managed to find their way out of the tunnels that had supposedly been used for smuggling..

Yeah, they definitely weren't a few random tunnels that had been dug for this. Tunnels for smuggling on an island made perfect sense.

After they'd all returned to the camp, a campfire was lit in the centre square — if one could really call it that — and they all sat around it with the marshmallows that someone had thought to bring. Miss Taylor was not pleased with the sugary treats being passed around, but the other teachers were immensely grateful that someone had brought them — since Miss Taylor had been in charge and had forbidden any and all candy originally — and made sure she couldn't say anything about it. In the end she gave up and instead continued the planning for that evening, taking a deep breath as she started speaking. Her usually nervous posture changed as she leaned towards the fire and her voice turned to a more secretive tone.

"So who can tell me why these islands was abandoned and why no one has set foot here for so long?"

Everyone stopped their conversation to stare at her in surprise. For a moment they could've sworn that their teacher was acting in a fun way.

As no one replied Miss Taylor smiled at them all, making sure she had everyone's attention before she continued, "According to the owner, the islands were once inhabited by a group of mercenaries. Many in the underworld feared them as these mercenaries had proclaimed themselves protectors of the innocent and were very skilled at what they did. Although no records remain of their deeds, rumours have it that they never failed an assignment they took on."

Yes, their teacher was most definitely acting fun. That fact alone was scary.

"One day, when someone arrived here to ask for help, he found the village the mercenaries lived in almost deserted. The only two people remaining on the islands were a boy and a young man. They'd been a part of the group of mercenaries but had been away for several days on a mission. They'd only just returned to find everyone they'd ever known and loved missing without a trace."

Miss Taylor smiled as she motioned towards the forest that the owner of the islands had said was off limits, "The only clue they ever found was a single body of who they think was one of the mercenaries. No one knows for sure though because the body had been mangled beyond recognition. These islands have never housed any animals that would be capable of such an act though, and many believed that someone in the underworld had cursed the islands and its inhabitants so they would never again have to fear the mercenaries."

A group of girls giggled nervously as they looked at the forest. Kairi, who had opted to sit with them for the evening instead of with Sora, Roxas and Hayner, seemed far more unnerved by the story than she should be. Her eyes were once again glued to the forest and her hands were clenched at her sides.

Miss Taylor sat up normally again, her demeanour changing back to that of the nervous woman she'd always been, "Now, it's getting late so I think we should all head off to bed."

Sora, now glancing nervously at the forest behind them while holding onto Roxas' arm as if his life depended on it, only tightened his grip as Roxas tried to stand up, "Do you think there's really a curse on the island?"

Roxas rolled his eyes but before he could say anything, Hayner piped up with a large grin on his face, "Definitely! Didn't you hear Taylor? And I bet that forest has something to do with the curse and that that's the real reason why we're not allowed to go in there!"

Sora's eyes widened and his grip tightened even more. Roxas winced as his arm was slowly killed, "Thanks Hayner, he's never going to get to sleep now."

Hayner snorted, "Like you weren't thinking of saying the same thing. Besides, maybe Taylor is right and there really is something up with this place. My mom once told me that no one wanted to come here because bad things happen to you if you do. There's got to be some truth to the story if people have been saying that for years now."

Roxas shrugged, starting to drag Sora along to the room they'd been assigned to. "If mercenaries really lived here, and I already doubt that, they were probably just killed or something. More likely is that someone pulled a prank and started some stupid rumour about this place."

"Then how did everyone disappear?" Sora's eyes were still trained on the forest, "They had to have gone somewhere."

"Maybe there was only a small group of them left and they were sick and tired of living so far away from the mainland."

"So you're not even the slightest bit scared?" Hayner was desperately trying to keep his lips from twitching up into a smirk. He was planning something and Roxas knew it. Roxas narrowed his eyes, "What are you up to?"

The smirk finally broke through on Hayner's face and a mischievous glint entered his eyes, "if you're really not scared, why don't you spend the night in the forest?'

Roxas raised an eyebrow, "Because the teachers would kill us if they found out?"

"When has that ever stopped us from doing something?"

"Good point."

Roxas stopped walking and looked at the forest for a moment before smirking back at Hayner, "Fine, I'll stay in there for a night. I doubt it gets very cold here anyway so that shouldn't be a problem. What do I get if I don't come back before morning?"

"If you manage it you won't be called a coward for the rest of your life." Hayner's smirk widened to a grin as Roxas sulked at the reply. Obviously Roxas wasn't going to refuse anymore at this point, but he'd hoped he'd actually get something out of it. So much for that plan.

"Fine, but I bet the doors are locked at night so you're going to help me get my stuff through a window or something. I do intend to get some sleep out there so I'm bringing my sleeping bag."

"You're actually going to do this?" Sora stared at him, "Mom would kill you if she found out!"

"Which is why no one is going to tell her." Roxas gave a warning look and then continued dragging them both to their room. Sora would let go as soon as he realized he'd have to come along into the forest if he didn't let go.

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><p><strong>A note to anyone who knows it's extremely rare for someone to learn how to wield two weapons at the same time. I do actually know it takes years and years of training to learn how to fight like that but fuck it; at least I'm trying harder than Kingdom Hearts itself to explain how Roxas can use two keyblades at the same time. Just accept it and move on guys.<strong>

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed despite the fact that this chapter really didn't have much going for it. As I said before, updates will be every Saturday/Sunday (depending on your time zone) so I'll hopefully see you all next week. Review! **


	2. Something About a Night in the Forest

**Well, I haven't been this disappointed by the lack of reviews I've gotten in a week's time since… I first started posting here, really. Here's to hopefully getting more this time around. I hope everyone enjoys and R&R!**

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 02 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About a Night in the Forest **

Getting outside and then sneaking into the forest had been a bigger challenge than Roxas had thought it would be. He shared a room with five others aside from Hayner and Sora so they'd had to wait until they were sure everyone else was asleep before they could do anything. They mightn't have bothered with the secrecy and involved the rest of their roommates, but sadly one of said roommates was the teacher's pet of the class and the teacher would have known about their little plan faster than Roxas could win a struggle match while holding two bats. The less people who knew, the less likely it was that they would get caught.

Thus, they'd had to open the window, let Roxas climb through, get Roxas' sleeping bag through the window as well, throw Roxas a flashlight to use as soon as he'd gotten to the forest, and all of this while not waking up the others despite the fact that Hayner had accidentally hit Roxas with the flashlight when he'd thrown it.

Well, Hayner had claimed it had been an accident. Roxas had his doubts.

After all of that Roxas had thought it would be easy to just walk towards the forest and find a spot to sleep, but apparently Miss Taylor enjoyed nightly walks. She'd very nearly spotted him and Roxas still wasn't entirely sure how she'd missed the very oddly shaped tree even if it was dark.

But nonetheless he was now in the forest, far enough from the edge to use his flashlight freely, but not far enough to have gotten lost and never be able to find the camp again. He was very happy that he'd decided to bring his cell phone along despite the fact that they wouldn't have any reception, because now at least he had an alarm clock to wake him up hopefully before one of the teachers would notice he'd gone missing.

Sighing as he crawled into the sleeping bag, now forced to use one of his arms as a pillow since bringing that along really would've been annoying, he closed his eyes and silently cursed Hayner and his stupid ideas. He also wondered, not for the first time since he'd agreed to this plan, what Kairi's problem with this place was, but he decided to leave it for the next morning when he would actually be able to see what he was doing.

The next thing he was aware of was a strange noise in the distance. He grumbled to himself and turned around in his sleeping bag, trying to ignore it. A few moments later he heard it again and he grudgingly opened his eyes, momentarily confused about where he was until he remembered Hayner's challenge. He sat up and yawned as he looked around, trying to figure out where the sound had come from, but there was nothing but complete silence now. Shrugging, Roxas lay back down and tried to go back to sleep.

Several minutes of silence passed before Roxas shot up again, glaring in the general direction he'd heard the sound come from. For the life of him he couldn't place the sound but what was far more annoying was that the birds in the forest had been disturbed by it as well and were flying up into the sky, squawking loudly as they went.

"Stupid animals," he grumbled before lying down again. Hopefully there would be no more birds that would get scared and—

Roxas growled as another flock of birds took flight. This time he could've sworn he'd heard something like shuffling footsteps or something. The sound was too far away for him to really tell but if he was right, Hayner was a dead man.

"Hayner, if you're trying to scare me I swear to god I'm going to kill you tomorrow morning!"

There was nothing but silence and Roxas grumbled some more to himself, turning his back to where the noise was coming from and closing his eyes again. He hoped Hayner would get caught for this by a teacher on his way back. He hated being woken up in the middle of the night for anything short of imminent death.

He'd almost fallen back asleep when he heard the sound again. Having had enough, Roxas quickly climbed out of the sleeping bag and put his shoes back on. If Hayner really wanted to die that badly, he'd happily make the other's wish come true.

Armed with a flashlight he walked into the direction he'd heard the noise coming from, convinced Hayner couldn't possibly have gone too deep into the forest in case he'd get lost. The sounds had seemed to come from pretty far into the forest but Hayner just couldn't be stupid enough to go that far in the middle of the night.

Then again, Hayner had pulled some pretty stupid stuff over the years…

Shaking his head, Roxas moved the flashlight so he could try and memorize which way he'd need to take back after he'd reminded Hayner not to wake him up. When after a minute the noise came again and still sounded pretty far away though, Roxas paused and looked back in the direction of his sleeping bag. If he'd go much further he might not remember the way back. On the other hand, if Hayner had gone that far into the forest he'd probably thought of a way to get back. As long as he found Hayner everything would be fine.

And besides, he wasn't getting any sleep with all these birds screaming the entire time. He glared up at the sky as another flock took flight. Couldn't they all just leave in one go?

Cursing softly as he nearly tripped a few times and scratched himself on a few tree branches, Roxas sighed in relief when he heard the sound yet again, but much closer this time. He could now even hear the shuffling footsteps of before not too far up ahead as well and he ran into the direction the sound came from. As he jumped into a small clearing, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Hayner was most definitely not there.

A small shadowy figure sat crouched on the ground, its skin visible because it was actually darker than the night and its eyes glowing brightly as they focussed on Roxas. A second creature just like the first one sat a little further away in a tree, looking down at Roxas with the same intensity as its partner. Roxas' mind blanked as he stared at the two creatures, unsure whether he was hallucinating out of fatigue or plainly still asleep. As far as he knew you had to be a lot more tired than he was to start hallucinating so the second option seemed more plausible.

The creature closest to him opened its mouth and the sound Roxas had heard before echoed through the forest as it turned its body towards him, slowly starting to approach him. Roxas instinctively took a step back before reminding himself that this was a dream and he had nothing to be afraid of.

"This is ridiculous," he muttered, taking yet another involuntary step back as the creature kept coming towards him. "This is nothing more than a dream. All I have to do is either wake up or give myself superpowers or something."

Without warning the second creature jumped from the tree it had been watching Roxas from and lunged for him, the tiny claws on the ends of its hands reaching out to grab him. Roxas' eyes widened and he jumped back in surprise. The first creature lunged at him as well and although he fell to the ground to avoid it, one of the creature's claws grazed his arm and he could feel the scratch burn.

'_Dreams aren't supposed to hurt…'_

His already fast heartbeat picked up a bit more with the realisation that something was actually wrong and he wasn't just dreaming. Roxas scrambled to his feet and started running just as the two creatures lunged at him yet again. He needed to get back to everyone else so he could get help. What kind of help would actually work against… against what? He had no idea what these things were. He didn't know of any animals that looked like this, not to mention that they had been told that no dangerous animals lived on this island. What in the world were these things and how had no one ever found out they lived here—

Roxas yelped as a third creature jumped down from a tree right in front of him. He only barely managed to change directions before it could get its claws into him. A fourth creature — a different one this time — came flying from between the trees. This one looked like a blue lantern of sorts that hovered in mid-air without the use of any wings. Roxas ducked under it, feeling the small bird-like feet the thing had grazing his head. Just as he thought he had safely passed it, a gust of icy wind shot past his left hand and a patch of ice formed ahead of him. His hand felt like he'd been holding it in the freezer too long and Roxas shivered at the sensation. He sped up, his feet and legs burning with the exertion, but he couldn't care less. He _had_ to keep running. Whatever these things were, he couldn't let them get anywhere near him. He needed to get back to the camp so he could get hel—

Where was the camp again?

Panic spread through him as he realised that he had no idea which way he was running or even which way he should be running. If everything hadn't already looked the same before, his panic-ridden mind surely couldn't tell anything apart anymore now. He had to find someone who could help him though, not to mention explain what these things were. He was very sure that there weren't any animals that could freeze things out of nowhere.

He dashed into another clearing only to stop dead in his tracks yet again. More of the black and blue creatures were waiting for him at the edge of the clearing, blocking his escape. Turning around, he saw the four things that had been following him already closing off his last escape route. He gritted his teeth, refusing to simply give up because he was surrounded and had no way of escaping. He glanced at the ground to find something to fight with, locating two somewhat long branches close by. The branches wouldn't do a lot against the ice those blue things were shooting, but at least he could hit anything that came close to him. Besides, he'd never been beaten at struggling once he'd gotten his hands on two bats. Branches shouldn't be that much more difficult to handle than bats, right?

As soon as he moved to grab the two branches, several of the shadowy creatures lunged forward. He only barely managed to roll out of the way and slash at one of the creatures. The branch connected and the creature was flung backwards into one of the blue things.

Roxas quickly got to his feet so he could move around better, hitting another few of the shadowy creatures before he felt a cold gust of air barely miss him from behind. He spun around to see one of the blue things hovering not too far away, readying itself to shoot another blast of ice at him. Roxas dashed forward, hitting the thing before it could shoot at him again, only to feel one of the shadowy creatures crash into him and make him fall to the ground. Roxas yelped and swung one of the branches at the creature, batting it away just before it could sink its claws into him.

Another one of the blue things appeared and although Roxas managed to dodge the blast of ice, he felt one of the branches become far heavier than it should be. He let go of the now frozen piece of wood and batted the still useable one at another few of the creatures to try and keep them at bay. The creatures he'd beaten down before had rejoined the group and they were now forming a circle around him once again, though a much smaller one this time. Roxas' free hand balled into a fist as he realised he'd never manage to beat all of these things. No matter how hard he hit them, they just kept getting back up. On top of that, he was outnumbered by about twelve to one. A miracle needed to happen if he wanted to get out of this without getting mauled or frozen.

He gripped the branch in his hands tighter, gritting his teeth as his eyes flashed around for a way to escape. Maybe if he managed to beat a few of the creatures to the side he could make a run for it again? To where though? He still had no clue in which direction he was supposed to go. Besides, even if he did get back to the camp, what could anyone there do? The teachers had said that there weren't any dangerous animals on this island so there probably wouldn't be anything there to fight these things. Not finding his way back might actually end up saving everyone else's lives.

He swallowed thickly, Sora's face instantly popping up in his mind. Going back definitely wasn't a good idea. So what then?

Before he could come up with an answer to that question, one of the shadowy figures leapt towards him again. Roxas batted it away with the branch, swivelling around quickly as he sensed one of the shadowy creatures attacking him from there. He barely managed to hit that one and use the opening it had created to get away from several blasts of ice, only to trip on another branch that was lying on the ground. He cursed loudly as he fell to the ground, rolling onto his back quickly to see what the creatures around him were doing. His eyes widened as he saw one of the shadowy things jump at him just as he'd turned around, claws aimed straight for his throat. Roxas held up the branch still clutched in his hands in an attempt to defend himself, though he knew it wouldn't work anymore at this point. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the inevitable pain that was about to come.

A deep chuckle rang through the air and a flash of light passed by Roxas. He opened his eyes in shock, watching the creature that had lunged at him writhing in pain not too far away from him as flames lapped at its body. Several small balls of fire shot past him, the blue creatures instantly going up in smoke while the shadowy creatures were thrown back.

Wide-eyed and fearful now of an even more powerful creature, Roxas turned around to see where the balls of fire had come from. In the dark he could barely make out the shape of something that looked surprisingly human. The form raised its hand and a ball of fire appeared above its palm, the light of the fire illuminating the surroundings just before it was thrown towards one of the creatures behind Roxas.

In that brief moment Roxas had seen a man standing there with an amused look on his face. Bright green eyes had been looking at him from under fire-engine-red locks.

"And here I thought all humans in this place had been killed a long time ago. Honestly, who'd be stupid enough to return here after everything that's happened?" The form approached to stand next to him. Although his eyes were no longer used to the dark because he'd looked into the fire, Roxas had the distinct impression that the man was looking down at him. His heartbeat still racing and his mind still reeling from seeing a seemingly normal person conjuring fire out of nowhere, Roxas tried to stand up. The minute he moved though, one of the shadowy creatures lunged at him once more, that strange noise coming from its mouth as it tried to attack. Roxas instantly fell back to the ground as he heard the strange sound, a snort from above him drawing his attention away from the shining eyes that were now the only part of the creatures he could see. Another fireball appeared out of nowhere and was thrown at the creature. It burst into flames and then disappeared into what seemed like nothingness.

Roxas stared, his mind finally fully catching up to everything that was going on now that it had a moment of relative rest.

He was in a forest in the dead of night while being attacked by creatures that he'd never seen and which could create ice out of nothing. Now a man who could create fire out of that same nothing seemed to be protecting him, killing the creatures without a second thought. Actually, he wasn't entirely sure if the man was protecting him. Although his mind protested at the thought of anything supernatural actually existing, for all he knew the man was something out of this world like the creatures were and he simply wanted Roxas all to himself.

Did that make the guy some sort of demon or alien? Did those things really exist? His head was hurting…

Roxas groaned as his world started to spin in front of him. He vaguely heard the man above him asking if he was alright, though the other's voice seemed devoid of any real concern. He grabbed his head to try and make everything stand still again, but with only one arm to support him he fell to the ground, everything still spinning around him.

Demons and aliens weren't real.

Animals couldn't create ice or fire out of nothing.

People couldn't create ice or fire out of nothing, either.

There was nothing dangerous on this island.

That was how the world was. Supernatural things did not exist and he wasn't in a life-threatening situation right now. Nothing strange was going on.

"Kid, come on. Answer me."

'_Right?'_

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><p>Roxas shot up in his sleeping bag as music assaulted his ears. He looked around rapidly as he tried to figure out where exactly he was and where those things that had been attacking him had gone, only to find himself back in the spot where he'd gone to sleep the previous night. He frowned in confusion for a moment, trying to remember what exactly had happened the previous night that had freaked him out so much.<p>

Weird noises, Hayner being a jerk, walking around in the dark, weird creatures… a man that could make fire appear out of nowhere…

Roxas shook his head to get rid of those last few thoughts. That wasn't right…

Bright green eyes and fire-engine-red hair illuminated by fire entered his mind once more.

Definitely not right.

He lifted one of his arms hesitantly to see scratches everywhere. Flashes of shadowy creatures ran through his head, but he shook them off. No, he'd simply scratched himself on a few branches when he'd come here last night in the dark. A flashlight could only illuminate so much after all. Any and all scratches he had came from those stupid branches.

Finally calming down and grabbing his cell phone to shut it up, he fell back to the ground with a groan. He felt like he'd barely had any sleep but then again, what had he expected after a night of sleeping on the hard ground. Dreaming about being chased around probably hadn't helped either. Honestly, that had been one hell of a weird dream.

Definitely just a dream.

Roxas lifted his arm again to stare at the scratches, noticing one that had been deep enough to bleed a little and leave some of the dried up blood on his skin. He tried to recall any branch he might've walked past that had made that particular scratch, but came up blank. He shook his head and got up, putting his shoes back on and rolling his sleeping bag back up in a bit of a violent manner. He quickly grabbed the flashlight — hadn't he left that next to his shoes, not near his head? — and started back towards the camp. He was going to forget everything about this night as soon as he got back and had rubbed it in Hayner's face that he'd stayed out here for an entire night without anything happening. He would also forget about the weird dream he'd had and he would definitely never tell anyone about it in case they thought he was insane for having believed it might have been real for a second.

It had been nothing more than a dream. Nothing more.

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><p><strong>So yeah, I gave Heartless actual vocal chords. I always found it kinda weird that they never made a sound. Let's just call it artistic freedom and leave it at that.<strong>

**Also, the reason I don't name any of the Heartless by their proper names is because Roxas has no clue what the hell these things are. Calling them 'things' seems like a more natural reaction than trying to figure out what they might actually bea called. I'll eventually start calling them by their proper names, but it's gonna take a while.**

**I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, especially with something actually happening in this one, and leave a review before clicking that 'back' button!**


	3. Something About a Dream

**So yeah, I'm currently sick *sniffs* or rather, I have a pretty bad cold that's somehow making my ears hurt. If I move my head too fast it feels like someone is poking my eardrums with needles. Everyone, make it feel better with the power of reviews! I'm sure any doctor will agree with me that reviews heal any inury and remove any pain. °nods° Listen to these very wise doctors and R&R folks!  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 03 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About a Dream **

Sneaking back into the camp wasn't nearly as hard as sneaking out. The teachers were still asleep — it really was far too early to be up already — and no one else had woken up yet. Getting back into his room was more of a challenge though. Since he had to get back in through the window he needed to find a way to wake up Hayner or Sora without waking up everyone else. That, or he'd have to wait outside until everyone had woken up and then sneak back in.

He was considering the second idea when Sora's head suddenly popped up behind the window and smiled at him in relief. Roxas raised an eyebrow, checking his cell phone to see that yes, it was still far too early for anyone to be up. He just shrugged it off as Sora started helping him back in, too happy to get back in without any trouble. Sora had always been good at waking up at ungodly hours and immediately act as if he'd had five cans of energy drink.

They'd just managed to put his sleeping bag onto his bed and had sat down when the door swung open and Miss Taylor walked in. "Time to wake— Oh, I see some of you already are." She gave them a strange and suspicious look, "I wonder why that is."

Roxas smiled sweetly at her, aware that the look didn't fit Miss Taylor's perception of him in the slightest, "Sora had a nightmare and woke me up."

Sora stared up at the teacher with big, blue eyes, making sure he looked sad and upset. Miss Taylor only had to take one look at Sora's face to forget any objections she might have had. "Well, I'm glad to see you two get along so well. It's time to get up now so wake up anyone here that's still asleep."

Both nodded and she left, Sora's face splitting into a huge grin as the door closed behind her.

Roxas grinned as well. "You are way too good at that."

Sora's grin turned into an innocent smile, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

A pillow hit them from across the room and they turned around to see Hayner glaring at them. "Can you two plot later? I'm trying to sleep."

Roxas snorted, throwing the pillow back straight into Hayner's face. The other's reflexes obviously weren't working yet. "Taylor just told us to wake up so we can plot as much as we want to. Now get out of bed, lazy-ass."

Hayner grumbled as he grudgingly got out of bed, walking around like a zombie as he started getting dressed together with the other five people in their room. Sora, already fully dressed for some reason beyond Roxas' comprehension, watched as Roxas followed their example, "So did anything happen in the forest?" The brunet bit his lip nervously, his eyes flying over the scratches on Roxas' arms.

Roxas glanced down at his arms, images of those shadowy creatures instantly popping into his mind. He pushed the images away angrily, sick and tired of that stupid dream continuously coming back to his mind. "It was fine. I scratched my arms on some branches when I was walking into the forest last night and I don't really feel like I had a lot of rest, but nothing happened."

Sora smiled in relief and relaxed, glad he'd been worrying for no reason. Roxas forced a smile as well, the stinging he felt in his arms still dragging back the memories of last night — no, the _dream_ of last night.

It wasn't until breakfast that Hayner woke up enough to remember the fact that he'd challenged Roxas to stay in the forest. He'd already started accusing Roxas of failing since Roxas had been inside when he'd woken up, when Sora said he'd let Roxas in only minutes before Miss Taylor had unlocked the door. Hayner was suspicious about Sora lying for Roxas but had no choice but to accept the fact that Roxas had spent the night in the forest without coming back, screaming like a little girl about monsters. Needless to say, Hayner was not pleased with these results.

The rest of the day they were kept busy with an obstacle course and a long treasure hunt that took them quite a ways away from the camp. It wasn't until dinner came around that they returned to the camp and were given time to themselves. Kairi, despite being pulled away constantly by her friends, had refused to leave their side ever since they'd returned from the treasure hunt and was now glancing nervously back and forth between her food and the forest.

"Kairi, are you okay?" Sora tilted his head slightly as he too glanced at the forest and then back at her.

Kairi smiled at him, though it looked incredibly forced, "I'm fine, just not very hungry." She seemed to force her eyes to stay away from the forest. Roxas suspected that she had decided that her fear of the forest was ridiculous. She seemed to be trying to ignore the line of trees that was visible, though she was failing miserably.

"Aw, is Kairi still afraid of the scary forest?" Hayner snickered, his good mood finally returning after he'd sulked for most of the day, "Maybe the scary monsters will come and eat you."

Kairi scowled and moments later Hayner yelped and grabbed at his leg. Sora and Roxas grinned at each other, knowing Kairi had kicked him _hard_ despite how innocently she was now eating her dinner.

They spend most of the evening just kicking around a ball someone had brought and simply trying to be as loud and obnoxious as possible. By the time Miss Taylor sent them to bed, she looked completely exhausted. Roxas could practically hear her think, "Only one more day and we'll go back home". He would've pitied her if she hadn't always been such a control freak in class, giving them detention for the smallest incidents. This was their little payback for all of that.

He was about to go into the complex so he could get some proper sleep when he heard a familiar sound from behind. He froze, his eyes widening as he simply stood there, waiting to see if it would come again.

There was a long moment of silence and he'd just started to convince himself that he was just hearing things when the sound came again. He whirled around, scanning the edge of the forest as fast as he could for bright eyes. He relaxed once he'd assured himself that they weren't there. He really was just hearing things. Stupid drea—

"Roxas? You okay?"

Roxas nearly jumped as someone put a hand on his shoulder and he turned back to see Hayner giving him a strange look. Roxas smiled sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. "It's nothing, I thought I heard something but it's just my imagination."

Hayner grinned. "Is the night in the forest getting to you after all?" he joked, slapping Roxas on the back, "And here I thought you'd said nothing had happened."

Roxas rolled his eyes, trying to look as exasperated by Hayner's teasing as possible. "Nothing happened so stop trying to convince yourself that something did." He motioned towards the forest, "I just thought I heard—"

The rest of his sentence died in his throat as he turned to the forest and saw several pinpricks of light. He stared with wide eyes as the pinpricks moved closer.

"Dude, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Hayner stepped next to him to look at the forest as well. "Hey, what are those weird lights?"

'_I'm not just seeing things then. At least I'm not going insane.'_ Roxas lifted one of his arms and without looking away from the tiny lights, pinched himself. His arms fell back to his side as he felt the pain and knew this couldn't be a dream.

Just like last night couldn't have been a dream.

The creatures he'd seen last night _were_ real.

There were animals that could create fire and ice out of nothing.

His heartbeat picked up as his head started to hurt again. He'd just managed to convince himself that everything had been a dream and now reality had decided to slap him in the face.

"Hey guys, you should see this! There are lights in the forest!"

Roxas was pushed farther outside as the other boys ran out of the complex, all speculating loudly about what the lights could be and drawing the attention of the rest of the class. Roxas continued to stare, becoming paler by the minute as reality fully hit him and he realised that if there were enough of those creatures there, they were all going to die.

"Roxas?" Roxas snapped out of his daze as a hand was placed on his shoulder again. He turned around to see Sora looking at him worriedly. "Are you okay?"

Roxas was about to open his mouth to reply when one of the creatures in the forest let out that strange noise once more. Roxas whirled back around to see the tiny lights in the forest suddenly charging at them at full speed, soon followed by hovering shapes in the air that Roxas knew were the probably the blue lantern things.

To say Roxas panicked completely at this point would be an understatement.

"Run!" Without waiting to see what the rest of his classmates were doing, Roxas grabbed one of Sora's hands and started running in the opposite direction of the forest. Not unlike the previous night he had no idea where he was going but he wanted to get the hell away from those creatures no matter what.

"Roxas, wait! What's going on?" Sora tried to make him stop, looking back over his shoulder at his dumbfounded classmates giving them weird looks. Roxas didn't stop though. He simply kept pulling Sora along.

Moments later the creatures came into sight for the rest of the class as well and gasps filled the air. Another moment later and a scream was heard as one of the creatures lunged at the group of teenagers. There was an uproar and suddenly people were running around in a panic, trying to get away from the creatures.

Sora's eyes widened and he instantly started running together with Roxas. "What are those things?"

Roxas' free hand balled into a fist as the events of the previous nights flashed in front of his eyes yet again, "A dream, I thought."

Sora gave him a strange look before he was jerked to a standstill as Roxas suddenly stopped running. Sora looked ahead of them to see what Roxas was staring at, only to see more of the creatures waiting for them. Black shadows were crouched down, ready to jump at them. Blue lanterns were preparing to shoot ice, about to try and freeze them.

Roxas pushed Sora away just as one of the blue lanterns shot a burst of ice at them, his hair gaining a thin layer of ice. Roxas spotted one of the struggle bats lying on the ground just as the three shadowy creatures attacked and made a grab for it, only barely managing to swing it at the three creatures before they could get to a wide-eyed and paralyzed-with-fear Sora. Roxas gritted his teeth, standing in front of his brother as the three shadowy things got back to their feet and simply jumped at him again. Just like last night, no matter how many times he bat them away they just kept getting back up and attacking them.

The blue lantern floated past him just as he hit one of the shadowy creatures again, aiming its attack at Sora. Roxas whirled around just as it shot, his arm moving on its own as he held the bat between the creature and Sora. The bat froze over instantly and Sora scrambled to his feet to avoid any further attacks.

Roxas let the bat drop to the floor, the thing too heavy to use properly now. Without it he was completely defenceless though and he wouldn't be able to fight these things. Then again, even if he did manage to beat them through some miracle there were a lot more behind them.

Wait, why was everything so quiet behind them?

Roxas dared to glance at the camp to see what had happened to everyone else. Maybe they'd found a way to escape and—

Bodies littered the ground, the shadowy creatures sinking their teeth into their victims while the blue lanterns froze their own into blocks of ice. Roxas' eyes widened at the sight, momentarily distracted from the four creatures that were attacking him and Sora.

He felt claws sinking into one of his arms just as Sora yelled a warning to him. Roxas' attention was jerked back to the danger in front of him and he waved his arm wildly to try and dislodge the creature. The creature's claws dug into his skin more until it was finally forced to let go, sharp nails scraping skin as they went. Roxas cursed, pulling his arm closer to his body. The next moment he felt Sora pushing him to the ground as ice flew over their heads. Roxas pulled Sora behind him as he saw the two remaining shadowy creatures crouching down to attack them. He wasn't going to let them get to Sora. Maybe if they killed him they'd be so busy eating him that Sora could get away.

He shivered. That was one disgusting thought.

"Roxas!" The creatures jumped at him and Roxas held up his uninjured arm instinctively to protect himself, the other one trying to make sure Sora would stay behind him and wouldn't get caught as well.

A strange, tingling sensation ran from his fingertips through his arms and down his body. A strange weight suddenly settled in both his palms and Roxas' eyes snapped open as he heard Sora gasp behind him.

'_Two… keys?'_ Roxas didn't have any time to think about the strange objects he was suddenly holding. He was barely in time to use the arm that he'd been holding in front of him to swipe at the two creatures. His eyes widened as they disappeared into nothingness with that one single blow.

"What the—" he was cut off as the third creature made the strange sound again as it backed away from him. Roxas stared at it before looking at the gold and silver, giant key in his hand, then to the one in his other hand.

These things were afraid of giant keys? That was… an odd fear. Then again, he'd just made two of them disappear with one hit and he hadn't even really been able to put a lot of strength into the hit.

Confused as he was, a small grin formed on his lips and he got up to his feet. He located the blue thing that had been trying to freeze them to death, his grin widening as he spotted it. That thing was going down first. It was a lot more annoying since it had far more range than Roxas did with the keys, not to mention that Roxas just didn't like the cold.

The blue lantern was trying to float up high enough so Roxas wouldn't be able to hit it. Roxas' eyes narrowed and he rushed forward, jumping as high as he could to slash at the thing. The tip of one of the keys grazed the creature, making it drop down a little. Roxas swung the other key to hit the thing dead-on and it disappeared just like the two shadow things had done. Roxas could hardly believe that these things were suddenly so easy to beat. Who would have thought giant keys made for such awesome weapons.

"Roxas! There's more!" Roxas turned around to see not only the shadow thing that had already been there. Several more shadows and lanterns had come to join the fight, though oddly enough the blue lanterns weren't the only ones closing in on him and Sora from the sky. Yellow and red versions had also joined in. Roxas hated to be logical about something so illogical to begin with, but if blue things shot ice then red things probably shot fire and yellow things probably shot thunder. This was starting to feel more like a video game than reality.

Great, game logic was starting to apply to the real world.

Taking a deep breath and holding the two keys up — seriously, keys? — Roxas charged at the strange things, dodging fire, ice, and lightning attacks while trying to get close enough to hit the flying things. In the meantime the shadowy things weren't leaving him alone either. Not to mention that throughout all of this, he had to try and keep them away from Sora, who had no way of fighting these things even if he'd wanted to.

Yeah, it was definitely starting to look like a video game.

Just as he'd managed to get rid of most of the flying things and all of the shadows — at least those things died with a single hit, the flying things took two — a large shape came running towards them. Roxas glanced over at it to see the fattest man he'd ever seen coming towards him. For a very brief moment he thought they might be getting some help before he was attacked, the man trying to crush him beneath his body. Roxas cursed as he was reminded that humanoid things apparently also had weird powers now.

Fucking video games.

Roxas rolled out of the way, swinging the two keys around to get rid of the last few of the floating things – thank god he was getting used to this – and then focussed back on the fat thing.

As he tried to hit it, his keys simply bounced off the fat of the thing's stomach, doing little more than annoying the thing. It jumped up and created a miniature earthquake of sorts, making Roxas fall to the ground with a yelp. He only barely managed to get out of the way as the thing tried to crush him again.

'_Okay, so how do I beat something that has so much fat it isn't phased by my awesomely ridiculous weapons?'_

The fat thing jumped once again and Roxas barely managed to keep his balance, trying to jump up so he could hit the thing's head instead of its stomach. His key was easily intercepted by the thing's arm and the key was knocked out of Roxas' hand. Roxas cursed as his arm was batted away with amazing strength and he fell to the ground, groaning as he hit his head on the ground rather hard.

"Roxas, look out!" Roxas opened his eyes to see the fat thing jumping up to once more try and crush him beneath its body. He tried to get up and out of the way but his head was hurting and his vision swimming. He fell back down without having moved an inch from the place he had been lying.

Just before the thing could actually crush him, Sora rushed forward. In his hands the brunet was now holding a giant key exactly like the two Roxas had — _why giant keys?_ — and he hit the fat thing with enough force to knock it to the side.

"Roxas, are you okay?" Sora knelt down and helped him to sit up. Roxas stared at the key in Sora's hands for a moment, forcing his sight to focus while he tried to process what was going on. "Seriously, why keys?"

Sora blinked and glanced down at the weapon — if you could call it that — in his hands. "I don't know. They're kind of cool though, don't you think?"

Roxas stared at his brother before letting out a sigh. "You're insane."

Sora pouted before their attention was drawn back to the fat man as it got up. Roxas groaned, his head still hurting and his vision still swimming when he moved too fast. He'd never be able to fight that thing like this. "What the _hell_ is that thing?"

"A Large Body." Roxas eyes flashed to where he thought he'd heard the voice coming from, the tone of it instantly bringing back the memories of bright-green eyes and fire-engine-red hair. Sora followed his gaze and they both stared as the same man that had saved Roxas' life the night before came strolling towards them, not caring in the slightest about the bodies he was walking past.

The Large Body, as it was now known as, looked at the newcomer for a moment before deciding it didn't care. It launched another attack at Roxas and Sora, who apparently _were_ worth its time. Roxas and Sora both held the keys up to try and keep the thing away, but before it had gotten close a large ball of fire hit it and exploded its body into a sea of flames. Sora and Roxas looked back at the man walking towards them, an expression of indignation on the redhead's face. "Hey, don't ignore me when I'm trying to make a big entrance! Honestly, the nerve of some of these things."

Another three balls of fire were shot at the fat man in quick succession and it exploded, leaving nothing but smoke in its wake. Roxas and Sora stared in shock at the spot where the thing had been before looking back at the man that had saved them.

Roxas got to his feet carefully, making sure not to make any sudden movements so he wouldn't fall over again like an idiot. He looked the redheaded man over carefully as he came to a standstill in front of Roxas, arms crossing and an amused smirk playing on the other's lips.

Roxas swallowed, making sure Sora was still behind him in case this guy decided to attack as well. The fact that Sora would be a much more effective fighter right now since Roxas could only move very slowly didn't even register in his mind. "Who are you?"

The man grinned at them, his eyes seeming to spark with mischief, "The name's Axel, got it memorized?"

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><p><strong>Gah, it took me to the end of the third chapter to Axel's catchphrase in! I am very disappointed with myself. °shakes head° But anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed and I'll see you all next week. Review!<strong>


	4. Something About an Answer

**Gah! I just had exams today v.v I hate summarising. Who the HELL thought it was a good idea to make someone who's studying to be a translator learn how to summarise? °twitches°**

**Well anyway, here's to hoping I don't get stuck with any resits. I'll leave you people to read the chapter in peace now since that's basically why you're all here, not to hear me bitch. Enjoy folks and R&R!  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 04 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About An Answer **

'_Got it… memorized?'_ Roxas suppressed the urge to pretend he hadn't heard what the other had said. People who could create fire out of nowhere probably shouldn't be challenged like that.

He held up the key he was still holding, glancing over to where the other one had fallen and cursing when he noticed he'd never get to it in time if this guy decided to attack. He focussed back on Axel, "So what are you planning to do? Burn us to death?"

Axel raised an eyebrow, the amusement never leaving his face. "If I'd wanted you dead, why would I have saved you just now?"

"I could've taken him," Roxas grumbled. He heard Sora cough softly behind him and glared at his brother. "I could've!"

Sora gave him a sweet smile as if he hadn't done anything before looking back at Axel. "So, if you're not here to kill us, can you tell us what's going on?"

Axel's eyebrows raised, his gaze flicking from the keys in their hands back to their faces. "Keyblade wielders that don't know what they're fighting. Now I've seen everything."

"Keyblade… wielders…?" Roxas looked back down to the giant key in his hand. The thing was called a… keyblade. They were actually meant to be used as weapons to hit things with.

…

"I'm out of here." Roxas lowered the keyblade and started walking back into the camp. He cautiously passed Axel — the older man giving him a surprised look as he walked away — and tried to keep his eyes away from the many corpses that were lying further up ahead. Maybe there were still others around that he could help. They couldn't all be dead, could they? Hayner was too damned stubborn to get killed. At the very least he'd still be running around, right? He could use some company if he was going even half as insane as he thought he was.

"Roxas, where are you going?" Sora ran over to him and grabbed his arm. Roxas winced as the wound he'd previously gotten stung at the sudden movement — funny how he hadn't noticed it at all during the fight — and he had to take a moment to make his head stop spinning. At least it was getting better. He turned around slowly and looked Sora straight in the eye.

"I have been attacked two nights in a row by weird animals I've never seen before in my life. These animals somehow defied the laws of physics by being able to fly without wings or anything of the sort, and creating fire, ice, and lightning out of nothingness. I couldn't knock those things out with a branch or a struggle bat but the minute I get two giant-ass keys from out of nowhere, I can get rid of them in one or two blows. Then some guy with a hair colour that shouldn't exist shows up, throws some fireballs, and tells me those key things are called 'keyblades' and are apparently really used to _kill_ things with." Roxas took a deep breath before he turned around again. "I've obviously gone insane. I'm going to embrace the insanity and run around like a crazy person now."

"You were attacked yesterday too?" Sora's eyes widened and Roxas slapped his forehead, regretting the action as his head instantly protested. He turned around to glare at Sora, the brunet taking a nervous step backwards. "That's all you caught of what I just said? You're holding a giant key of your own and you haven't come to the same conclusion as I did?"

Sora looked back down at the key and just shrugged. "I still think they look kind of cool." As Roxas' glare intensified, Sora grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "Besides, we can't both have gone insane while seeing the same things. I can see the guy with the impossible hair colour as well."

Axel frowned and actually pouted as his hair was insulted for a second time. "Can we stop talking about my hair and go back to the part where you two don't even know what you're holding?"

Roxas rolled his eyes, turning back towards the camp. "I think you just said they're keyblades. If you don't mind, I'm going to save some imaginary people that might still be around."

"Everyone's already dead; I checked."

Roxas stopped yet again and swallowed hard, reminding himself that this wasn't real and his classmates were just fine. The way Axel had said everyone had died bothered him though. There hadn't been a single hint of caring in his voice. In fact, there hadn't really been any trace of any emotion in it. Couldn't he have come up with a more caring person?

"Everyone's… dead?" Roxas turned back to see Sora turning pale, the keyblade falling from his hands as they started to shake. Naturally Sora hadn't noticed the bodies further up ahead yet.

Unable to stand it when his brother was close to tears, Roxas quickly came back over to the brunet and put a hand on his shoulder, feeling Sora shake all over, "Sora, it's just—"

He wasn't even able to finish his sentence as Sora pulled away, glared at him through tear-filled eyes, and punched him.

Roxas fell to the ground, too stunned at the reaction to be able to do anything. Even the mild spinning of his world did nothing to distract him from Sora's face. Sora continued to shake, though it was from anger now. "We're not crazy! Those weird things did attack us and they did kill our friends! Snap out of it, Roxas!" Sora kicked the key that was lying at his feet before collapsing to the ground in tears. Roxas stared in shock for another moment. Sora had never gotten angry, let alone at him, and he'd definitely never punched anyone. In fact, Sora had attracted bullies like crazy when they'd been younger and had never lifted a finger against them, despite the fact that Roxas knew through past struggle matches that Sora could've fought them off.

His head turned in the direction of the camp, taking in the sight of the frozen and lifeless corpses. Patches of ice were spread all over the place and some of the bodies had been mauled so badly by the shadow things, he could make out the flow of blood from where he sat.

He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. The thought that he'd gone insane just didn't hold up anymore as he heard Sora's sobs.

He sat back up and pulled Sora into his arms, staying silent this time as he fought to keep his own emotions in check. To distract himself, he looked back up at Axel and focussed on what the redhead had said before. "So, keyblade wielders?"

Axel nodded, not fazed in the slightest by the emotional display in front of him, "Haven't your parents told you about this? I might be new to all of this but even I know about keyblade wielders."

Roxas let out a snort, "If our mother ever saw a giant key appearing out of nowhere, she'd scream and call the army to take care of it."

"Interesting mother you've got," Axel chuckled. "So you have no idea what you were fighting or what I am, huh?"

"A guy with an impossible hair colour?" Roxas couldn't help but smile a little as Axel sulked at the comment.

"No, what you were fighting were demons. So am I, just a little different from them."

Roxas stared before shaking his head slowly, "Please tell me you're kidding."

"Nope."

Roxas took a deep breath and for the first time in his life tried to suppress the rational part of his mind that was telling him demons only existed in video games and horror stories. "Demons, giant keys that are used as weapons… What's next? Aliens?"

"Nah, haven't seen those around yet."

"The 'yet' part is very reassuring," Roxas grumbled. "So explain, what makes you different from the other… demons."

"Well for one I'm extremely good looking."

"And you obviously have a bigger ego too," Roxas added dryly. Axel continued without missing a beat.

"But to know what makes me different, you'd first need to know what the other things are. Heartless, which is what those things are called, are demons that need the essence of a human heart to survive. As long as they eat that essence, they can live forever. If they'd ever stop though, they'd die. The essence also makes them stronger. The purer or more innocent a heart is, the more power a Heartless gains."

"They eat the essence of human hearts?" Sora pulled away from Roxas' chest, wiping away his tears and looking up at Axel.

"Yeah, the essence of a heart is what humans use to feel emotions and such. The Heartless themselves lost their hearts when they became demons so it's an instinct of sorts to try and get back what they've lost. No matter how many hearts they steal though, they won't ever be able to feel again. Heartless lose all ability to think rationally though and are guided purely by instinct so they'll never realise that it's pointless."

"So what makes you different?" Roxas asked, glancing over at one of the giant keys on the ground. "And why can we beat those Heartless things with giant keys but not with anything else?"

Axel sighed, a hint of emotion appearing on his face for the first time. "Heartless were once human. When a human is attacked by a Heartless and their heart is taken, they become Heartless themselves. Your friends," he motioned towards the corpses, "will turn into Shadows soon enough."

Sora paled as he looked back towards the camp. "They'll turn into those shadowy things? Can't we stop that?"

Axel shook his head. "No, they've already started to change into Heartless. There are only two things that can happen to them now. Either they turn into the things that attacked you, or they become like me; a Nobody."

The hint of melancholy that had been showing on Axel's face disappeared and he grinned. "Heartless generally leave a trace of a person's heart behind. With most people this trace simply leaks out like blood from an open wound. Some people manage to cling onto it, though. When they turn into demons they maintain their human form and still have a shadow of their emotions left. Those emotions only show in extreme situations though."

'_That explains why he doesn't seem bothered at all by what's happening.'_ Roxas frowned. If Axel had no emotions, why had he saved him last night? Not to mention just now? "So if you don't care, why bother saving people? I mean… you were the one who saved me last night, right?"

The melancholy returned to Axel's face for a moment before the redhead pushed it away and shrugged. "I didn't exactly ask to become a Nobody when I was turned into one. It's not like I go around looking for people to save, but since I was around anyway, I figured I could give you a hand. I never thought you'd be stupid enough to stick around for a second night."

"I thought I'd been dreaming…" Roxas looked away. That's what he'd told himself anyway.

"Dreams don't hurt." Axel gave a pointed look. Roxas could also feel Sora looking at him weirdly. He glared back at the two of them. "When you get attacked by supernatural things, reality isn't the first thing you think you're in."

"Want me to prove you're awake right now?" A small flame appeared over Axel's hand, illuminating his face in a way that sent a shiver down Roxas' spine.

"I think my arm is proof enough, thanks." Roxas glanced down at his left arm, the wound no longer bleeding but still a fiery red colour. It still stung when he moved it so he had more than enough reminders that this wasn't a dream. At least his head had stopped spinning.

"Damn." Axel let the flame disappear and sighed. "Anyway, as for your keyblades being the only things that can kill Heartless, that's not entirely true. Nobody magic also works as you've seen." Another flame appeared and snaked its way across Axel's hands before disappearing. "I don't know why those are the only things that can kill them, though. All I know is that Heartless simply aren't affected by other things. . It's why everyone on this island was killed way back when."

"Killed?" Sora blinked. "I thought the story said they disappeared without a trace."

Axel stared at them for another moment. Roxas frowned at the strange look he was given and narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"You two really don't know anything about those keyblades, do you?" Axel's lips twitched.

Roxas and Sora gave each other a questioning look before looking back at Axel and shaking their heads.

Axel burst into laughter, doubling over and clutching at his stomach. Roxas' brow twitched. Sora instantly turned red in embarrassment, though he wasn't entirely sure what he was embarrassed about.

It took a few minutes for Axel to calm down. The redhead wiped away a tear and let himself fall to the ground. Shaking his head as the last chuckled subsided, he sat up and looked at them both. Roxas continued to glare in annoyance and Sora was staring down at the ground, biting his lip nervously.

Axel chuckled once more before speaking again. "Okay, I've only been a Nobody for about a decade or something, so I wasn't around when this island was still inhabited. It's kind of a popular story though so I've heard it a few times from other Nobodies I've met. About 75 years ago a clan lived on this island. Everyone in that clan had keyblades. They were the ones who killed Heartless when they appeared in this world. As you might imagine, they weren't exactly popular amongst demons, so there was one Nobody who started planning to get rid of them. He used the portal that links the Realm of Darkness to this island — the one the clan had been guarding — and set loose as many Heartless and Nobodies as he could find. There had never been an organised attack so the clan was completely overwhelmed. In one night everyone on this island was killed and turned into Heartless themselves. Since they were keyblade masters and some would have probably held onto the trace of essence in their heart, the man who had led the attack personally made sure not a drop of that essence actually remained."

The story their teacher had told them flashed through Roxas' and Sora's minds, the entire thing becoming a lot more real all of a sudden. Obviously some of the facts had gotten messed up, or rather misinterpreted, but the basics of the story were still the same.

"So if everyone was killed, how did we end up with these things?" Roxas glanced at the keys lying on the ground. "And why did I get two while Sora only got one?"

Sora, apparently only now noticing this little fact for the first time, blinked and then pouted in realisation. "Yeah, why does Roxas get one more than me?"

Axel shrugged. "I told you, I wasn't around at that time so I wouldn't know. One of the clan's members probably survived and managed to stay in hiding or something. You two just happened to be the first ones to summon keyblades again since that time if your parents really don't have one."

Silence fell as Roxas tried to wrap his mind around everything that had been said. He was used to rationalising everything, not believing supernatural forces were to blame for what happened to people. The complete change in mindset was giving him a a headache, but at least he wasn´t fainting over it like he had the night before.

After a moment Axel frowned as he looked towards the camp. "I do wonder why the Heartless came here, though. This island's been abandoned for so long, there wouldn't have been any reason for them to randomly come looking for hearts here."

"You said that the purer a heart is, the more power a Heartless gains when he eats it. Those keyblade wielders from the past sound like they had pretty pure hearts so maybe Roxas and I do too." Sora drew his knees up to his chest, his voice growing quiet as he finished his thought. "Maybe we drew them here."

"I doubt that. You two were never trained."

Sora and Roxas looked up at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, noticing a guy around their age leaning up against a nearly tree. Sora's eyes wandered from silver hair that shone in the moonlight, to sea-green eyes that were staring at them intently, down the rest of the other's body. He bit his lip and blushed as he noticed what he was doing and quickly brought his eyes back up to the teen's face.

Roxas' eyes narrowed at the newcomer. "More demons, just great."

The silveret pushed away from the tree and walked over, coming to a standstill not too far away from Axel. Axel looked him over as well, frowning as if something was bothering him. "Never seen you before. Who are you?"

The apprehension the teen's face had previously held melted away as he spoke, "Riku."

"What a sea of information you are." Roxas rolled his eyes, reaching out for the keyblade he'd dropped earlier and putting his hand on it in case this guy ended up fighting with them. "What do you want?"

"You seem to be lacking some information I can give you," Riku answered simply, his eyes focussed on the keyblade Roxas was holding. His face was completely devoid of any kind of emotion though, so Roxas guessed Riku was another one of the humans that had managed to hang onto a bit of their heart.

"I think we'll be fine without knowing exactly what happened here." Roxas got to his feet, dragging Sora up as well. He didn't even trust Axel completely, let alone some new guy that was offering free information.

He turned around to head back towards the camp, hoping they could get out of here before everyone started turning into Heartless. He wasn't entirely sure if he could swing his giant key around at them, knowing who they'd been before. He wasn't even entirely sure if he'd be able to walk past the bodies without giving in to the urge to go and find Hayner or Kairi, just to check if they were really….

"Really? So I guess that girl who was dragged away from here screaming your names doesn't mean that much to you."

Roxas was really getting sick and tired of being stopped every time he tried to walk away.

Sora whirled around, eyes wide. There was only one girl in their class they were really good friends with and who would call out to them. "Kairi?"

Riku shrugged. "If that's what her name is. All I know is that a man dragged her through the portal and that she's the reason the Heartless came here."

Sora ripped free from Roxas' grasp, Roxas' protests going completely unheard. The brunet ran back to stand in front of Riku, his eyes large and pleading for the other to tell them what had happened. Riku stared at the him for a moment before falling prey to those eyes, actually taking a step back in discomfort before he spoke again. "Your friend is one of seven girls that can open up the door to Kingdom Hearts, the place where all hearts are born. The man who took her is trying to get there because he wants to become immortal. With an infinite amount of hearts at his disposal, he'd never have to worry about growing old and dying. He'd also grow so powerful that no one would ever be able to stop him again."

Even Riku himself seemed surprised he'd told them so much in one go. Roxas would've smirked at how effective Sora's little trick was if he hadn't just heard one of his friends had been kidnapped by a madman.

A dumbfounded silence fell as Riku waited patiently for them to process what he'd just said. Roxas opened his mouth to call Riku insane but his voice had left him and he closed it again. After everything that had happened this really didn't sound as crazy as it should.

As no reply came, Riku sighed and shook his head. "Fine, I'll start at the beginning, then."

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><p><strong>Yay, now I've got everyone introduced that matters! Well, aside from the bad guys obviously but we'll get to that. I hope nobody minds the large amounts of information I'm now throwing around; it's kinda necessary. See you all next week! Review! <strong>


	5. Something About a Plan

**More information! Yay~! I… kinda don't have anything to rant about for a change so… yeah. I hope you all enjoy the chapter and R&R!  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 05 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About a Plan **

"When a baby is born, its heart comes from a place called Kingdom Hearts. Not the physical heart, of course, but the same essence that Heartless take when they attack someone. To protect this place keyblades were created. No one knows exactly where keyblades came from anymore or when the first person to wield one was born, but since then the clan of people that could use the keyblades lived on this island. As children grew up here and gained the power to summon a keyblade, they were trained to use it and control any dark impulses they had. That's why keyblade masters were always pure-hearted. It's also the reason why you two didn't draw the Heartless to this place. Without that training your hearts are as ordinary as anyone else's."

Roxas was pretty sure Riku had just insulted them, but refrained from commenting.

"Heartless have always instinctively sought for Kingdom Hearts. Naturally though, you can't find it that easily. The door to Kingdom Hearts can only be opened when seven specific girls, the Princesses of Heart or the Maidens of the Purest Heart, come together and open the door. These girls were each born with nothing but light in their hearts and still have a strong connection with the pure hearts that reside within Kingdom Hearts.

"The original keyblade clan was entrusted with the duty to protect this realm from Heartless so they wouldn't be able to steal people's hearts. They were also entrusted to guard the Princesses so the Heartless would never be able to find their way into Kingdom Hearts. The clan made sure they knew where each of the girls were, searching for the next incarnation for years at times when one of the old Princesses died.

"As you can imagine, Heartless and Nobodies weren't exactly big fans of the keyblade clan. About 75 years ago, one man, the oldest Nobody to this day, decided to create an army of Heartless to attack the keyblade clan all at once. He used the portal on this island that leads to the Realm of Darkness, the place Nobodies and Heartless reside, and attacked everyone here until no keyblade wielder was left alive on the island. The keyblade wielders that had been away from the island were tracked down over time until none remained. Since Heartless always leave a tiny bit of a person's heart intact when they attack and the keyblade masters were bound to have strong-willed people amongst their ranks, the man who had organised the attack personally made sure that even that was drained from their bodies so they'd definitely change into Heartless. This man, Xemnas, is also the person who has your friend now."

"So Kairi was one of those girls and this Xemnas person wants to use her to get into Kingdom Hearts?" Sora asked, nervously running his fingers over the keyblade in his hands.

Riku nodded. "Yes, as it stands he has six of the seven girls now that he has her. For ages now he's been searching for them all over the world. Some of the girls died in captivity so Xemnas had to start looking for that one again. He's never gotten as close as six out of the seven though, and the ones he has are all still young. He has quite a lot of time to find the last girl, which means the only thing that is really standing in his way is the fact that he doesn't exactly know how to open the open the door even when he does have all the Princesses. It seems that particular secret died together with the keyblade clan."

"Finally something he doesn't know." Roxas crossed his arms. "How do you know about all of this, anyway?"

Riku's eyes narrowed at the question. "How I acquire my information is my business. Be grateful I'm helping you at all."

Roxas' eyes narrowed as well. "The only reason you could know all of that is either because demons have Facebook and Twitter and talk far too much on them, or because you were around when the keyblade clan was killed. Since you look around our age and I rather doubt the former is true, that would mean you've stolen a few hearts to stay young. Excuse me for not trusting you with that in mind."

Riku's calm eyes blazed in disgust and anger, his jaw clenching at what Roxas had just suggested. "I have never eaten a heart in my life. As I said, how I get my information is my business and you should be glad I'm helping you."

The two glared at each other until Sora spoke up, his voice quiet as he didn't want either of their glares to be turned on him. "So can we still save Kairi?"

Riku's face became calm again as he reigned in his emotions, only his eyes still showing the anger he felt at what was apparently a grave insult to him. "Yes, but you should probably focus on finding the last girl so you can protect her from Xemnas."

"Why?" Roxas cut in. Riku looked back over at him in confusion. Roxas rolled his eyes. "You said yourself that the keyblade masters used to spend years on finding these girls back in the day. Why would we go search for a girl we don't know how to find, when we could be saving Kairi? Since you know so much you probably also know where this Xemnas guy is keeping her."

"Well yes, but—"

"Then we should go rescue the girl we do know the location of, not the one we don't know we can find before Xemnas does." Riku opened his mouth to speak but Roxas cut him off again. "Besides, if we go and rescue Kairi we can also rescue the other girls."

"Xemnas isn't that stupid. He's keeping them in separate towers of his castle, each guarded by a Nobody that has aligned him- or herself with him." Riku insisted, "You two know nothing about the powers of the keyblade so the odds of you actually beating a Nobody that's been around for a while without any training is—"

"So train us, oh wise one," Roxas interrupted sarcastically. He looked over to Sora questioningly. "You want to go and save Kairi too, right?"

Sora nodded, shrinking away slightly as Riku glared at him. "It's probably easier than finding a girl we know nothing about. Since you seem to know so much you could train us to beat those Nobodies, right? And you can help us too!"

Riku's fists balled and anger sparked in his eyes again. Roxas was surprised to see so much emotion in the eyes of someone he'd thought to be a Nobody before. If Riku wasn't a Nobody, what was he? He didn't show nearly enough emotions to be a normal human either.

"I'm not going to be able to stick around all the time and I'm definitely not fighting the Nobodies with you." He held up a hand as both Roxas and Sora opened their mouths to protest. "No, I have my reasons and I won't explain them. I'm simply here to give you all the information you need so you can stop Xemnas."

A silence fell, Roxas continuing his previous glaring contest with Riku as if trying to force the information out of the silver-haired teen through sheer force of will. The silence was broken after a few moments by Axel, who had been listening to the story while lazily playing with a flame. The redhead got to his feet, glancing over at the camp before speaking. "Not that I don't simply adore just sitting here and getting all cosy with you guys, but those guys over there are almost done turning into Heartless and I don't feel like sticking around to be attacked by a couple dozen Shadows. They might not be hard to beat but with that many, they're bound to mess up my hair. You all seem to be done with story time anyway."

"You're not going to help us?" Sora tilted his head, sad eyes looking up at Axel.

Axel looked down at Sora for a moment before shaking his head and averting his gaze. "That look isn't going to work on everyone, kid. I don't see how this has anything to do with me, so I'm out of here."

"What happened to trying to save people from turning into Heartless themselves?" Roxas looked away from his glaring contest with Riku. Axel had already saved his life twice now. Somehow the idea of a guy that could conjure up fire out of nowhere coming with them didn't sound so bad. Of course he could beat those stupid Nobodies and Heartless just fine on his own but Axel could still be a backup in case something happened to him. Besides, if he had to choose between Riku and Axel, he trusted Axel more. Even if it was just a little.

"I also said I didn't go around looking for people to save," Axel pointed out. "But hey, you could always give me a reason to stick around…"

Roxas looked back at Axel as the other trailed off, eyes widening as he saw Axel looking him over with a lecherous look. His mouth fell open in shock before he grabbed the keyblade his hand had been resting on this entire time and threw it as hard as he could at the redhead. Axel cried out in pain as he was caught off guard and was hit on the head with the handle. He fell to the ground, rubbing his head sulkily only to look up at the fuming face of Roxas.

"Say something like that again and I'll make sure I'll hit a lot lower." Roxas grabbed the key lying next to Axel, finally remembering the second one still lying further away and walking over to it. Axel sat up, watching him with a grin on his face. "I do like it when they struggle a little."

Roxas' grit his teeth, grabbing the second keyblade and whirling around. "I'm holding two of the weapons that can kill you. Do you really want to piss me off when I was already in a bad mood to begin with?"

Axel's grin only widened. "I also greatly enjoy a challenge."

Roxas' knuckles turned white with how hard he gripped the keyblades in his hands. "I'm suddenly very glad you're not coming along."

Axel's already bright eyes turned even brighter. "I think I'll tag along after all."

Roxas growled and threw one of the keyblades as hard as he could in frustration. Axel caught it with ease this time. He got up and walked over to hand the key back, looking far too pleased with himself for Roxas' liking. "Before this is all over, I'll have you begging me to bend you over. Got it memorized?"

Roxas glared back defiantly as he took the offered keyblade. "If you ever touch me, I'll make sure you won't ever be able to fuck anything ever again. _Got it memorized?_"

The two stared at each other for a moment longer, one grinning like the Cheshire Cat and the other glaring murderously. They would have probably continued their staring contest for quite some time if Riku hadn't spoken up. "Not to disturb the blooming love between you two," he ignored the glare Roxas shifted from Axel to him, "but can we get back to saving the last Princess?"

"We're saving Kairi first," Roxas insisted. Riku's eye twitched, the twitch becoming more of a tick as Sora nodded and did nothing more than avert his eyes when Riku glared at him.

Riku crossed his arms stubbornly. "You need me to tell you where your friend is being kept."

"Big, ominous-looking castle in the Realm of Darkness?" Axel raised an eyebrow. "It's really not that hard to spot and it's the only place you can defend decently from the hordes of Heartless these girls are bound to attract."

"Weren't you leaving?" Riku practically growled.

Axel smirked at the silver-haired teen. "And miss the opportunity to get into Roxy's pants? I think I'll stick around."

Before anyone could really tell what was going on Roxas had already crashed one of the keyblade in his hands into Axel's head again. The redhead once more fell to the ground, half surprised he hadn't gotten a concussion yet, and rubbed the painful spot on his head. Roxas fumed down at him once more. "_Don't_ call me that."

The grin that formed on Axel's face at the comment was unmistakable. Roxas greatly regretted having said anything. Apparently Axel didn't mind getting hit in the head at all.

Trying to distract himself and cut Axel off from any further comments, especially any including that blasted nickname he hated so much, he looked back at Riku with narrowed, suspicious eyes. "Why don't you want us to go save Kairi and the other girls first?"

"I've told you; they're being guarded by Nobodies. If you want to save them you'd have to fight your way through dozens of Heartless — since you'll be attracting those like crazy in the Realm of Darkness — and even then you'd have to fight the Nobodies that are guarding the girls, while you're already in a weakened state. Besides," Riku added quickly as Roxas opened his mouth to no doubt dispute the fact that he and Sora wouldn't be able to take on all the demons that came their way, "Kairi was only just taken so I don't know which tower Xemnas would've put her in."

"Shocking, something you don't know." The sarcasm in Roxas' voice dripped off every word in waterfalls. "Since you're so good at gathering information, I'm sure you can find out for us."

Riku stared hard at him for a moment, probably deciding whether or not the plans he'd made in his mind were still going to work out at this rate, before turning around and walking towards the forest the Heartless had come from. "Fine, but I won't be back until tomorrow evening so have fun dealing with all your friends-turned-Heartless."

"What does he—" Before Sora could finish his sentence movement could be seen near the camp. Sora and Roxas looked at each other with wide eyes as they realised their former friends had finished turning into Heartless and were going to attack them at this rate. Neither was entirely sure if they could kill any of the Heartless, memories of their classmates flashing in their minds as they considered the idea.

"How do we get away from here if the boat isn't coming to pick us up until tomorrow?" Sora stared at the moving shapes that were slowly starting to rise, the shapes no longer human but small, shadowy, and with bright and intense eyes instead.

"A better question is, how do we explain what happened here without being declared insane or murderers?" Roxas hesitated for a moment before quickly walking over to the keyblade he'd previously dropped and picking it up. Fight or run, he was going to need to keep these things with him.

Even if they _were_ ridiculous weapons.

"How about you just kill them?" Axel raised an eyebrow. "They're only Shadows now."

"I don't want to kill them." Sora bit his lip. "They're friends…"

Axel snorted. "The Heartless you killed before were friends of other people and you had no problems getting rid of them. Get over it if you want to survive in the Realm of Darkness."

"Shut up and just help us get out of here before I throw the giant key at your head again," Roxas grumbled. He could see the bright eyes of the Heartless looking at them now, more joining the few they'd been able to see before as they slowly came towards them. "I don't think any of them turned into Nobodies…"

"Nobodies are rare. There are only a few in existence so that really isn't that surprising." A portal made up of something Roxas couldn't describe opened up next to Axel and the redhead motioned for him and Sora to step into it. "But if you don't want to fight them, let's go. You'll come across them later again anyway. If they've turned into something stronger by then and kill you, don't say I didn't warn you."

Roxas looked at the portal apprehensively and glanced over at Sora, who was looking at the portal in a similar manner. Both were startled as they heard the odd sound Shadows make not too far behind them and looked back to the camp, seeing the Shadows almost close enough to jump them.

Roxas grabbed Sora's hand and quickly dragged him into the portal, a shiver running down his spine as he heard Axel throwing a ball of fire behind him, no doubt getting rid of the Heartless that might have followed them. He kept repeating in his mind that the Heartless Axel had killed weren't his friends anymore and could've hurt them if they'd been given the chance, but that didn't make him feel any better. He felt Sora grabbing his hand more tightly and knew he'd heard as well. He would've killed Axel for scarring his brother even further if the redhead wasn't saving them from having to do the exact same thing themselves.

As they stepped out of the portal, they found themselves at the edge of Twilight Town. Axel stopped behind them and closed the portal with a wave of his hand. The fact that the redhead was completely unfazed by having just killed some of their friends still disturbed Roxas, even though he knew Axel was as close to emotionless as you could get. It was going to take some getting used to having someone like Axel around.

Sora slowly let go of his hand, looking up at Twilight Town as he took a few steps towards it. Roxas could clearly see that Sora was doing everything in his power to distract himself from what he knew had just happened. "We can go home…"

Roxas grabbed Sora's hand again, pulling him back. Sora hadn't figured out yet what he had apparently. Roxas hated being the one to have to tell him. "We can't."

Sora turned to look at him in confusion. "Why not?"

Roxas took a deep breath, looking away so he wouldn't have to see Sora's reaction. "Because we're still supposed to be on the island. When they find everyone missing tomorrow while we came home a day early, they're going to suspect we had something to do with everyone else's disappearance. We can't explain what happened either since they wouldn't believe us."

"But," Roxas could practically hear Sora's heart breaking as he spoke, "when we're not on the island tomorrow, they'll think we're…"

"Missing as well," Roxas finished quietly. He knew Sora had figured out the same thing he had now. If they ever returned home they'd have to explain what had happened on the island, which was impossible for them to do."

They could never go back home again.

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><p><strong>While I was editing this chapter for the last time I had Ventus' theme playing in the background. Sad music and the end of this chapter really shouldn't be combined. °shakes head° Anyway, I hope everyone's curious as all hell about Riku now and will enjoy being confused for quite some time longer. ^^ See you all next week and review!<strong>


	6. Something About a Portal

**It's almost my birthday! Yay! I'm not entirely sure if it's healthy for a soon-to-be 22-year old to be writing fanfiction about Kingdom hearts, but I like to tell myself it's at least a step up from the Yu-Giu-Oh! fanfiction I was writing before. Naturally, I ignore the fact that there are still Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfics sitting on my computer, waiting to be finished when I tell myself this.**

**So anyway, this was the first chapter in which I had to do some major rewr****ites so I hope it all still fits together fluidly and you all enjoy. R&R guys!  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 06 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About a Portal **

Tiny, little pinpricks of light.

Any time Roxas closed his eyes, that's what he saw. Tiny, little pinpricks of light that would slowly close in on him until he could see the shadowy shapes they belonged to. To put it lightly, Roxas couldn't get to sleep.

His fist clenching as if he was about to hit something, Roxas' eyes opened once again to stare at the ceiling of their Usual Spot. He was tired. His body felt like it could crash at any moment. He really wanted to get some sleep and never wake up if at all possible. Sadly, his mind refused to shut down and let him have his way. It simply kept showing him images he really didn't want to see while going over everything that had happened that night.

After Sora had realised they'd never be able to go home again, he'd turned into a zombie for several hours. In this time, Axel had explained to Roxas that although Nobodies and Heartless could technically stand daylight, it caused them increasingly more pain. To Roxas' great relief the redhead had then taken off with the promise to come and pick them up the following evening. Roxas had then dragged Sora into town — forcing himself not to simply follow the part of his brain that was saying: 'Fuck it, go home already!' — and had taken him to the little hideout they would usually go to with Hayner; the Usual Spot. This hadn't been his most brilliant plan, as just sitting there and realising they'd never be hanging out there with Hayner again wasn't improving his mental state, but no one ever came there. It had been the safest thing he'd been able to come up with.

After several hours in completely silence Sora had finally snapped out of his zombie-like trance and had broken down. Roxas had tried to stay as calm as possible while trying to comfort Sora as best he could, but he'd come very close to following Sora's example. He'd really wanted to just get angry at someone or something like he usually did when he was frustrated or something didn't go the way he'd wanted it to go. They'd had to be quiet though and Sora was the only one he could've gotten angry at, which even he knew was a bad idea and completely unjustified.

Sora had practically collapsed after he'd finally managed to calm down a little, falling asleep almost instantly though Roxas doubted it was a very peaceful one. Still, at least Sora was getting some form of rest. Roxas couldn't exactly claim the same thing.

He sighed as he closed his eyes again and tried to force his thoughts to just leave him alone for a while. He'd expected to see the same pinpricks of light he'd been seeing for hours already, but the next thing he was aware of was someone shaking him rather violently. He groaned as he opened his eyes, his hand reaching for one of the keyblades that were supposed to be next to him only to find them missing. He was about to panic when a small ball of fire appeared out of nowhere and lit up his surroundings. Axel was crouching next to him, an amused look on his face. Roxas glared. "What?"

"Did you know you look incredibly cute when you sleep?" Axel grinned.

Roxas' eye twitched. "Shut up." He would've thrown one of his keyblades again, but they seemed to have disappeared. Roxas looked around in confusion but they weren't anywhere in sight, "Where the hell are my keyblades?" They were giant _keys_ for crying out loud. They were pretty hard to miss.

"They probably just went back to wherever they came from," Axel shrugged. "My chakrams do the same."

Axel fought with chakrams. He used two giant keys to bash things and Axel had genuinely dangerous weapons. Just wonderful. And the worst thing was that he really did want those keys back; they were oddly effective.

"Great, now I need to figure out how to summon them before I can hit you," Roxas grumbled. Axel pouted at him before shrugging it off and standing up. "Wake up kiddo over there so we can go meet Silverlocks. For the life of me I can't get him to wake up."

Roxas yawned, still feeling tired. He turned to Sora, wondering if he should even wake his brother up since Sora could really use the rest. He sighed, knowing it would probably be better if Sora was awake when they went back to the Destiny Islands. "Sora, I've got an entire bag of Pixy Stix for you."

Sora's eyes flew open and he was at Roxas' side in record time. "Where?"

Roxas chuckled lightly, watching realisation dawn on Sora's face. The brunet sulked. "You're mean."

"I know," Roxas grinned, turning back to Axel as Sora continued to sulk. "So we're going back to the island?"

"That's probably where Silverlocks will come back to. I can always come up with a few other places I'd love to take you, though." Once again, that lecherous grin appeared on Axel's face and Roxas _really_ wished he had his keyblade around to hit the redhead.

"Destiny Islands. Now," Roxas growled. Axel chuckled at him before standing up and opening another portal for them. "This should take us somewhere into the forest. Dark Corridors aren't exactly precise though, so I could be off."

"Wonderful. If we land in the ocean I'm blaming you," Roxas grumbled.

"I'm sure he'd be happy to warm you back up." Roxas turned around slowly to stare at Sora after the softly muttered words, not sure if he should be glaring for the comment or just staring because Sora had thought of it. Sora wasn't usually the first one to come up with innuendos, let alone speak them out loud.

Sora smiled sheepishly before quickly getting up and running into the portal to avoid Roxas' wrath. The smile on his face had not quite reached his eyes though so any anger that Roxas might have felt faded within a second. He'd rather have Sora tease him than turn back into a zombie, no matter how out it place it felt to have Sora make a joke about something like this.

Roxas turned back to Axel and shook his head. "He's gone insane because of all of this."

"Or he just realises that you're going to give in to me sooner or later." Roxas decided to ignore the grinning redhead this time, though his fist was itching to punch Axel. Maybe ignoring him would work better than hitting him. Axel apparently had a masochistic streak.

As Axel had predicted, his portal did not lead them exactly into the forest. Instead Roxas found himself staring at the camp once more as he stepped through the portal, the place completely deserted.

He averted his eyes, pushing away the memories that assaulted him, and turned around to walk further into the forest where he could already see Sora standing. Police were probably still investigating this place so they shouldn't do anything that might alert them that people had been on the island since the investigation had started.

"Any sign of Riku?" Sora shook his head, looking further into the forest to try and see if anyone was approaching them yet. Roxas ignored the tears he could see in Sora's eyes, only barely contained.

"No, but it's still early." Roxas nodded and sat down, his back against a tree while he faced away from the camp even though he couldn't even see it in the darkness. Sora followed his example as Axel finally joined them as well, flames dancing around him to light up their surroundings.

They waited for several hours without any sign of Riku. Sora had actually fallen asleep against his tree. Roxas was just about ready to join him when he could hear footsteps and he was pulled out of his dozing state, eyes focussing to try and see who was making the sound. It was far beyond midnight by now and they'd been waiting there for hours already. If this was Riku he was rather late, but it could be a Heartless that had sensed them through the portal as well.

And he still had no clue how to get his keyblades back.

In the dull light of the flames that Axel had created he could see silver shimmering in the distance and he relaxed, letting his head fall back against his tree. "About time."

As Riku came closer, Roxas could see the weary look in the other's eyes. His face might be void of emotions most of the time; his eyes were not so blank. Apparently Sora and he hadn't been the only ones to get barely any sleep.

"Sorry I'm late," Riku muttered, his voice reflecting the fatigue in his eyes. "It was harder to get away than I expected." He paused as he saw Roxas and Sora sitting on the ground. "Don't tell me you two are still tired. It's already unlikely that you're going to beat a Nobody that's been around for a few lifetimes, but if you're tired you're definitely not going to succeed."

"Shut up, we'll be fine." Roxas stood up, walking over to the tree next to him to wake up Sora. The brunet groaned and slowly opened his eyes, surprisingly easy to wake up for once. "Wha?"

"He found Kairi."

It took a moment for the words to sink in, but then Sora's eyes flew open wide and he sat up straight. "Where is she?"

Riku sighed, rubbing his temple. "One is overconfident; the other has no spine but gets carried away with his emotions. I'm doomed…"

"At least they've still got me," Axel grinned. Riku glanced over at him, rubbing his temple a bit more forcefully. "That's not very comforting."

"Just tell us what you know," Roxas cut in, in no mood to watch an argument ensue between Axel and Riku, or anyone else.

"Fine, though I still say you're all going to die." Riku ran a hand through his hair in mild irritation. "The Realm of Darkness, aside from being stuck in near-darkness constantly and having almost no plant-life as a result, is like this world in most ways. It has cities scattered throughout the world and many places are the same as they were once here. The differences come from the fact that this world has continued to build and destroy things, whereas the Realm of Darkness has stayed mostly the same over time."

"Wait, how can they be so similar?" Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Were the worlds one at one point or something?"

"No clue, but most likely. It's the only way to explain how cities were built in a place where the population exists mostly out of creatures that only know how to destroy. There are only very few Nobodies so I doubt they built everything," Riku shrugged.

"Anyway, there is one actual building that was built by Nobodies. Or rather, that Xemnas built… or stole from your world. Honestly, I don't know how he managed to get his hands on it, but he lives in a rather massive castle. The four towers of this castle is where he's keeping the princesses. Each tower is protected by one of the Nobodies that side with him and want to find their way into Kingdom Hearts as well.

"The tower your friend is being kept in is the North-most tower. The person guarding that tower, Larxene, is a woman who can use electricity and has a thing for knives."

"Wonderful, someone with actually sharp weapons. I wonder if she'll trade," Roxas grumbled.

Sora chuckled, the dislike Roxas had for their weapons endlessly amusing to him. Personally he thought they looked cool. Who could say they had a giant key with the power to kill demons? "We're going to have to get the keyblades back before you can trade anything."

"You don't know how to—" Riku slapped his forehead, "Of course you don't. Neither of you has had any training. Damn it."

Roxas and Sora looked at him in surprise, Roxas raising an eyebrow in confusion. "What?"

"Who were you protecting the first time you summoned the keyblade?" Riku asked, ignoring the confused look Sora and Roxas were giving him.

"Sora," Roxas replied. "The Heartless were attacking this place so I dragged him away but they were everywhere. They were about to kill us when those things suddenly appeared in my hands."

Riku looked over at Sora, the brunet not paying attention to him as he smiled gratefully at Roxas. Riku's lips twitched up in a smirk of his own before a ball of dark energy appeared in his hands. "Well, allow me to show you, then."

Before anyone could question him, Riku threw the ball of energy at Sora. The brunet's eyes widened and he fell backwards as Roxas pushed him out of the way. Another blast followed. Riku was closer now and aiming straight for Sora's chest. There was no way Sora would be able to dodge it at the range they were.

There was a dim glow of light and Roxas felt the weight of the two keyblades return to his hands. He quickly slashed out at the ball of energy, exploding it right before it could hit Sora. "What the hell?" Roxas glared at Riku, keyblades held ready to fight the other. "I never did trust you."

Riku snorted, the hand that had been firing the blasts falling back to his side. "The keyblades appear when you're trying to protect something precious to you from something born in the Realm of Darkness." His voice sounded oddly hollow as he spoke. "Remember how it feels to want to protect your brother and you'll be able to summon your keyblades anytime by just thinking about it." He looked over at Sora, the brunet looking at him with wide, shocked eyes. "How about you?"

Sora's eyes shifted over to Roxas before flashing back to Riku. "I think I get it without you trying to kill someone."

Riku's eyes shifted over to Roxas as well before he shook his head and shrugged. "Sure, I'd have a lot more trouble beating him anyway."

"Hey!" Sora jumped up, trying to glare at Riku though it looked far from threatening. "I'm not easy to beat!"

Riku snorted. "Tell me that once you've stopped cowering behind blondie and maybe I'll believe it then."

He had to dodge the keyblade Roxas tried to slam into his head, smirking pointedly at him. The fact that Roxas was the one defending Sora from his words only proved his point.

"You know, you guys are an endless source of entertainment," Axel chuckled, standing up from the ground and pushing Roxas' keyblade out of the way as he walked over. He wrapped an arm around Roxas, making sure the blond wouldn't be able to use his arms enough to hit him with the keyblades in his hands, and ignored Roxas' struggles to get free. "But I think I prefer Roxy's attention completely focussed on me, so I believe you weren't gonna stick around to help."

The smirk slowly faded from Riku's face and he looked from Roxas to Sora and back with an odd look in his eyes. Roxas stopped his struggles for a moment to try and place the look but came up blank. Riku was a mystery to him and he just couldn't decide whether or not he could trust him. Was Riku actually trying to help them save Kairi and stop Xemnas from opening the door to Kingdom Hearts, or was he trying to lure them into a trap?

Without another word, Riku turned around, the odd gleam showing in his eyes even as he turned away. He disappeared into the darkness, his footsteps barely audible as he went.

Roxas _really_ wanted to know what to think of Riku. However, he first had a perverted redhead to deal with. He twisted in Axel's arms once more, catching the other off guard since he'd been motionless for a while now. Roxas slipped out of the other's grasp and glared. "Realm of Darkness."

Axel smiled sweetly at him as if he hadn't done anything that would warrant the near-growl in Roxas' voice. "As you wish, Master."

Roxas turned to help Sora up, the brunet's eyes not leaving the ground as Axel started leading them through the forest to the portal. Roxas glanced questioningly at Sora as the other continued to stay quiet. "Sora—"

"Do I really make you fight for me all the time?"

Roxas sighed. "Are you coming along to save Kairi or not?"

Sora frowned, looking up at his brother in confusion, "Of course, but—"

"Then you're obviously not making me fight for you. Cowards wouldn't throw themselves into a situation that could possibly kill them," Roxas pointed out evenly. He knew Sora had always been a bit too gullible and their mother had manage to pass on quite a few of her own fears to him, but when things got bad he knew Sora wasn't going to just run away.

Sora stared at him for a moment before smiling widely, his normal, cheerful demeanour returning. "Yeah, you're right. We're going to save Kairi and I'll show Riku I'm not useless!"

As they passed through a clearing, Roxas vaguely remembered fighting the Heartless there during his night in the forest. He wasn't sure immediately since it was dark, but as he stepped on a branch that crumbled away rather than snapping, he noticed that the area had several charred spots where Axel had no doubt killed a Heartless with fire.

A sudden wave of gratitude washed over him as the memories of that night resurfaced and Roxas realised that he hadn't thanked Axel for saving him then, or for the second time. The redhead might be perverted and annoying, but he _had_ saved his life twice now. Plus, despite his obvious attempts to get into Roxas' pants, Axel _was_ helping them rescue Kairi.

Roxas actually felt sorry for throwing a keyblade at Axel's head.

Ignoring the feeling that he was going to regret his actions, Roxas sped up a little so he was walking beside Axel. The redhead glanced over to him and Roxas hesitated for a moment before he averted his eyes to stare straight ahead as he spoke: "I haven't actually thanked you for saving my life so… thanks." He felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment as he mumbled the words, doubting Axel's emotional range would actually allow him to care one way or another. He was being an idiot.

He shook his head, hoping Axel hadn't heard his softly spoken words so he could just go back to feeling annoyed at the redhead's behaviour. The night was silent though and even the smallest noise sounded loud now. He could feel Sora's eyes looking at him curiously from behind and knew that if Sora had heard, Axel had heard.

One of Axel's eyebrows rose before he grinned. "No problem. I wouldn't want the world to be deprived of something as cute as you."

Roxas' fingers twitched, his regret over hitting Axel with his keyblades fading away as Axel spoke. He glared at the redhead, only barely restraining himself from hitting him once more. "Just shut up and get us into this 'Realm of Darkness' or whatever."

"Why aren't we using one of those Dark Corridors anyway?" Sora piped up, coming up from behind to join them as well. "And why doesn't Riku use them either?"

"Dark Corridors can only help you get from one place to another in the same world. They can't be used to travel between worlds. The portal on this island is one of a few that actually connect the Realm of Darkness to this realm." Axel motioned in the general direction they were walking into and they could actually see a faint glow from between the trees now; presumably the portal. "As for why Silverlocks doesn't use them… I'm not even sure he can."

Roxas and Sora looked at each other in confusion before looking back at Axel. "Huh?" they voiced simultaneously.

"Riku isn't a Nobody," Axel clarified. "I'm not sure what exactly he is, because he does have a dark power inside of him that feels a lot like the power of a Nobody, but his aura just doesn't match up."

"He did seem a lot more emotional than you." Sora chewed his lip thoughtfully. "I wonder what he really is and wants…"

"As long as he isn't trying to kill us, I don't really care what he is," Roxas frowned in thought as well. "Though I do want to know what he's getting out of this and how he's able to get his information so easily."

The faint glow in front of them grew stronger as they stepped into another clearing. A portal made up of dark, swirling energies hovered a few inches above the ground in front of them, an ominous and dangerous vibe emanating from the portal. Sora and Roxas both took an involuntary step backwards before they had even realised they'd done so.

Axel continued to walk forward, not even noticing Roxas and Sora's sudden apprehension. "One trip to the Realm of Darkness as you wished!" He turned around to see the two keyblade wielders staring at the portal apprehensively and he smiled in amusement. "Unless you're afraid, of course."

Roxas had never been one to be called scared and take it well. He walked forward determinedly, competently ignoring the voice in the back of his mind screaming at him that this was going to end badly. Sora wasn't far behind him, the comment Riku had made still bothering him and his determination to prove the silver-haired teen wrong driving him to step through the portal that seemed to promise death.

As they stepped through the portal and came out in the Realm of Darkness, they looked around in confusion as they saw practically the same scenery. Roxas was about to question if something had gone wrong when he noticed that despite its appearance, everything did feel a lot… darker. Also, the trees that surrounded them looked completely dead, no doubt because the world was covered in the darkness of late dusk.

"Welcome to the Realm of Darkness," Axel announced as he stepped through the portal behind them. "Next stop, the north-most tower of the creepy, ominous-looking castle."

Roxas and Sora gave each other another look before nodding in unison. They were going to get Kairi out of here no matter what and no one was going to stop them.

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><p><strong>Any comments I made about the Realm of Darkness and the Realm of Light being the same at one point should pretty much be ignored. Honestly, I try to explain as much as I possibly can of what the game throws at us but sometimes I just really can't rationalise it.<strong>

**Next chapter: Roxas, Sora and Axel VS Larxene! Place your bets guys! Also, give me reviews for my birthday!**


	7. Something About a Rescue

**I hope you all enjoy this chapter 'cause guess what? The first bits of real character development are here! Fear it all people! ****R&R!  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 07 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About a Rescue **

Despite their first impressions of the Realm of Darkness, there were most definitely differences between it and their own world. The late-dusk sky continued endlessly, letting barely enough light spread throughout the realm for Roxas and Sora to see. It made sense that the Realm of Darkness would forever stand still at such a time, of course. However, it was still a strange thought that there were no such things as day and night here.

The city that Axel took them to seemed to be entirely deserted. Roxas would've questioned if they were really anywhere near the place Kairi was being kept at, only to rethink the matter as he spotted an enormous castle in the distance.

'_Someone planning to become all-powerful and immortal_ would_ just pick a place like that to live in.'_ He shook his head and was about to start walking towards the castle when he noticed that Axel hadn't moved from the spot he'd been standing in since they'd arrived in the city. He turned around to face the redhead and raised an eyebrow at the odd look on his face. "Axel?"

Axel glanced at him with a distracted look in his eyes before his gaze fixed itself on the castle. "I'm not sure if it's a good idea for me to get closer to that place."

"Why?" Sora tilted his head questioningly. "Is something wrong?"

"Their hearts," Axel started, his voice trailing off as he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. There was a moment of silence where Sora and Roxas looked at each other in confusion before Axel seemed to force himself out of the trance he'd gone into and continued to speak. "I wasn't expecting their hearts to be as… tempting as they are. It's hard to concentrate."

Sora paled slightly at Axel's words. "You're not going to try and get their hearts, right?"

Axel shook his head, forcing a grin onto his face with some obvious effort. "Nah, I can handle it. Don't worry about it, kid."

Roxas looked at Axel warily but the redhead didn't seem to be zoning out again. Noticing the stare, Axel glanced back at him and raised his eyebrow. "Do you want me so badly that you even have to stare when we're on a rescue mission?"

Roxas growled, tempted beyond belief to throw his keyblade at the other's head again, but thinking better of it since they were about to face off against another Nobody that, according Riku, was likely to take them out without a problem.

He turned around and headed towards the castle, ignoring the chuckle he knew came from Axel behind him. He threw a glare at Sora as the brunet caught up to him while trying to suppress an amused smile and failing miserably at it.

As they came closer to the castle, the state of the houses around them slowly became worse. At first Roxas didn't even notice the minor damages to the buildings, but as pieces of stone started disappearing from the walls and roofs and showing up on the ground, it became rather obvious. Within no time, the buildings were so destroyed that the walls only came up to his waist, some walls just being entirely gone.

"What happened here?" Sora questioned as he carefully stepped over a large piece of debris, looking at the devastation up ahead.

"I'd say the Nobody we're fighting likes to destroy things, and probably isn't known for her love of architecture," Axel answered, glancing at Sora and Roxas and then up at the tower they were approaching. "Come on, the Nobody inside will have probably already sensed you two since we're so close now and people with hearts don't tend to come around a lot. It's a good thing there aren't any Heartless close enough to sense you or we'd have those flocking here as well."

"Wait, she knows we're here?" Roxas stopped, Sora pausing beside him. "I figured we'd at least have the element of surprise."

Before Axel could reply, a flash of lightning shot down from the tower. They barely had any time to get out of the way before it hit the ground, charring it to a blackened state. Roxas and Sora stared at the spot for a moment with wide eyes before looking up as Axel spoke with an odd tone of mirth to his voice. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she knows we're here. You should be happy the other towers are too far away for the other Nobodies to sense you."

"Know you're here? If you were any more obvious every Heartless in this entire realm would come running. You're just lucky I've already killed the ones that were near here." A feminine voice rang out in mocking tones.

The group looked over to the entrance of the tower to see a young woman standing at the door. A light breeze ruffled through her blonde hair, her hairdo giving her what almost looked like bug-like antennae. She was wearing a long, black cloak. The smile on her face as well as the gleam in her eyes spoke of sadistic pleasure. Electricity sparked around her body in an obvious display of power. Even if Riku hadn't told them ahead of time what her power would be, they wouldn't have been clueless for long.

Hadn't Riku also mentioned something about a love of knives?

"Well, if you're just going to sit there and stare at my stunning beauty, I guess I'll just have to give you a reason to run!" A silver gleam reflected in the little bit of light that came down from the moon high in the sky before Larxene moved as if throwing something. The gleam disappeared from her hand and the crackling of electricity was their only warning before several knives came into view, aimed straight for them.

Roxas managed to block the knives heading for him with one of his keyblades just before they would have impaled him. Fire lit the air as Axel took care of the rest of the knives coming their way.

Sadly, as the fire dissipated, so did Roxas' ability to see properly in the semi-darkness.

"Damn it, Axel! If you're going to use fire, use it so we can actually see!" Roxas hissed. He could only hear the next group of throwing knives coming for him and barely managed to dodge them by ducking. He heard Larxene giggle in a way that honestly made him question her sanity.

"Oh, I'm going to have fun killing you three," she said, her voice almost childlike with mirth.

"We'll just see about that." Axel's voice sounded about as gleeful as Larxene's. Fire exploded around them, several small fires not fading away as they burned at the sides of what was probably going to be their battlefield. The area lit up as if it was mid-afternoon rather than the late-dusk it really was. Roxas winced at the amount of light for a moment before becoming used to it and looked around.

Larxene had snapped out of her gleeful mood and was looking around with surprise on her face. Both her hands held several throwing knives and Roxas had to wonder where those things were coming from. Then again, his keyblades also appeared out of nowhere and Axel had mentioned something about having chakrams that did the same. Magical weapons apparently shared this property.

Why did everybody else's weapons have to be so much more practical, though?

"I thought I'd sensed another Nobody but I figured Master Xehanort had already gotten rid of the ones that weren't working for him ages ago."

"I haven't been around for ages so I guess I was late getting the '_die_' memo." The redhead grinned but Roxas noticed his eyes flashing over to the top of the tower regularly. He frowned as he glanced up there as well, sensing for the first time the… what was that? Light? He wasn't used to sensing concepts like light and darkness but it was the only thing his mind could come up with. Light was emanating from the top of the tower, no doubt originating from Kairi.

Roxas wasn't the only one who had noticed Axel's distracted looks. Sora was looking at him curiously as Axel's gaze continued to linger longer and longer on the tower rather than Larxene. Larxene herself also noticed after a moment and she giggled in that high-pitched, child-like manner of hers. "You expect to beat me if you haven't fed for so long that you can barely stop yourself from rushing at the girl and taking her heart? This is rich." Her eyes narrowed, the electricity sparking around her growing stronger. "This is just an insult. You're all going down."

With that, the knives in her hands sparked with the same electricity as the rest of her body and she threw them in the direction of Sora. She charged quickly, her hands lighting up before bolts of lighting followed after the knives she'd already thrown.

Sora's eyes widened as the knives came his way before they narrowed in determination after a single glance up at the tower. He slashed his keyblade out at the knives, bracing himself for the shock that was bound to follow when he remembered that metal conducted electrical currents rather well. As the knives were hit and fell to the ground, electricity still sparking as they hit the ground, Sora didn't feel a single spark hit him though. He looked at the keyblade in his hands in surprise before grinning. "Roxas! The keyblades stop the electricity!"

Roxas had only barely managed to get out of the way of the lightning bolts that had been sent his way, tripping himself up on some of the debris lying around and almost falling to the ground. "They're made of _metal_. How would they do that?"

Sora shrugged, still grinning as he deflected yet another volley of knives. "Magic!"

"Why the hell not," Roxas muttered. They were giant keys that could appear out of nowhere and kill demons. Why wouldn't they defy the laws of physics a bit more?

Another bolt of lightning was sent his way, his mental complaints distracting him from seeing it immediately. He only noticed it when it was too late to dodge and he instinctively held up one of the keyblades to try and stop it, regardless of how pointless the action was in his mind. Instead of being electrocuted as he'd expected, though, the keyblade seemed to absorb the lightning without any problems. Roxas' eyebrow twitched. "Right, why not."

Axel, despite how much Kairi's presence in the tower was distracting him, wasn't having nearly as much trouble keeping Larxene's attacks away, since he could simply counter them with his own fire while even throwing some fireballs at her himself. Larxene was avoiding them with ease though, her speed allowing her to simple side-step any fireballs that made it close to her. She actually seemed more entertained by the few attacks that made it close to her than threatened by them.

"Is that all you three can do?" Another blast of lightning. "I've seen Heartless that did better!"

Roxas growled, blocking the blast with his keyblades. "She's annoying." At this rate they'd never get close enough to her to actually land a hit. Every time he tried to get closer she'd fire an incredibly strong surge of lighting at him, pushing him back to where he'd started off as he blocked it. Not only did this mean it was going to be hard to approach her but it also meant she was _toying_ with them right now.

"Axel! Do some sort of super move that lasts a while and will take up all her attention!" Sora yelled, jumping aside as knives rained down on him.

"What am I, a video game character that can do a super move by pushing a few simple buttons?" Axel threw back. The lightning Larxene was using was quite a bit stronger than his fire was, a testament to Larxene having been a Nobody for far longer and having consumed her fair share of hearts to become stronger.

"Just do something to distract her!" Sora yelled again. Axel and Roxas both glanced at him in surprise, not used to the timid brunet yelling out orders, before Axel decided to just do what he'd been told and see what happened. If Sora had some sort of plan, the only thing that could happen was that it'd fail and both Sora and Roxas would get fried. It'd be a shame to lose Roxas before he could do anything with the blond, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.

He focused all of his leftover power in his hands, fire surging around his arms. He shot a continuous stream of fire at Larxene, the woman countering it easily with a similar burst of lightning. She laughed with glee, slowly powering the attack up so it was overtaking Axel's a few inches at a time.

While overlooking the fact that Roxas and Sora were now free to run at her.

Roxas grinned, making a mental note to stop calling Sora a dumbass. Simple as it may be, a plan that worked was a plan that worked. Larxene might be stronger than them but her apparent love for torturing people slowly to death was keeping her from seeing the huge opening she'd left. If she'd just blasted them all from the very start they probably wouldn't have been here anymore by now.

Okay, so maybe Riku hadn't been exaggerating.

He rushed forward at the same time Sora did, both from a different side of the attacks Axel and Larxene were shooting at each other. The terrain made it hard to run through and it took them far longer to get close to Larxene than they would've liked. By the time they were only metres away from Larxene, she'd noticed both of them approaching and her eyes had widened in the realisation of what was going on.

The electricity sparking around her body suddenly charged to an alarming level as she pushed Axel's attack away with ease, the redhead getting blasted by far too many volts for anyone's liking. Larxene quickly raised her hands and aimed at both Roxas and Sora, the two now almost close enough to swing their keyblades at her.

Sora quickly stopped, blocking the electrical blast with his keyblade before quickly slashing out at the blonde woman with it.

Roxas, hearing the blast hitting Axel and glancing back at the redhead to see if he hadn't been killed, was a split-second too late to bring up his own keyblades to guard against the attack and was blasted backwards just as Sora's keyblade connected with Larxene's chest.

"Roxas!" Sora's eyes widened as he saw his brother being hit by the lightning. As he heard Larxene scream as his keyblade hit her he forced himself to first finish her off before he started panicking about how Roxas was doing. If he rushed over to Roxas first and let Larxene recover they'd be in a lot more trouble.

He slashed out with his keyblade as hard and as fast as he could, not giving Larxene any time to recover in between hits. Larxene screamed in pain every time the keyblade connected with a part of her body, agony written all over her face. She desperately tried to charge her body with electricity in a last ditch effort to get Sora away from her and zapped him, the attack only enough to stun Sora and make him take a step back by this point. Before Larxene could do anything to regain control of the situation, a ball of fire hit her square in the chest and she fell backwards once more, the cloak she wore lighting on fire and burning her skin.

"Sora, now!" Sora shook his head to clear it from the stun Larxene's previous attack had caused, glancing back to see Axel crouched on the floor, his body blackened all over. Sora quickly turned back to the burning woman on the ground and swung his keyblade at her one last time.

Larxene screamed out a protest as darkness flowed from her body and then consumed her, leaving absolutely nothing in its wake.

Sora dropped the keyblade in his hands, rushing over to where Roxas had fallen after he'd gotten blasted. Roxas' head had landed on one of the many pieces of debris, blood dripping from the edge of the stone. Sora's eyes widened at the sight, falling to his knees and grabbing Roxas' arm to see if he even still had a pulse.

"He's still alive," Axel said as he walked over, his body hunched over slightly. "I can still feel his heart."

Sora let out a sigh of relief at the news, feeling Roxas' pulse just to give him the extra reassurance. He slumped to the ground, his mind finally acknowledging the fatigue his body felt. "I can't believe he survived that." He looked up at Axel in his blackened state. "Or you, for that matter."

"Nobodies can take a lot more than humans can," Axel chuckled, "though I'll admit that getting hit by lightning definitely isn't my favourite activity in the world. As for Roxas; I'd say that he managed to block at least part of her attack before he got hit. Plus, she'd just used a lot of power on me to free up her hands so she had less to blast two at you to begin with."

Sora nodded, remembering that the attack Larxene had sent his way just before he'd managed to hit her had indeed felt far less powerful than anything she'd used on them up until then. He looked down at Roxas, biting his lip. "So how are we going to get him—"

"I'll carry him," Axel shrugged, bending down to pick Roxas up. Noticing the blood just as he was about to lift Roxas off the ground, he made sure to be a bit more gentle than he'd originally intended.

"Are you sure you can carry him?" Sora asked doubtfully. "You don't look so great yourself, you know."

"Don't worry about me; I can take a hit," Axel grinned. "Now, wasn't there a princess you needed to go save from a tower?"

"Right!" Sora jumped up, ignoring his body's protests, and ran at the tower as fast as he could. He halted as he reached the entrance, waiting for Axel to catch up before they entered together.

"Kairi!" Sora yelled, looking up at a large spiral staircase that seemed to go on for quite some time. There was a moment of silence and Sora was about to yell again as a soft voice came from above. "Sora?"

Sora grinned. "At your service!"

A door was slammed open at the very top and a tiny figure appeared over the railing. "Sora! You have to get out of here! There's a woman that—"

"Taken care of," Sora yelled back before she could even finish. There was a gasp before Kairi ran down the stairs as fast as she could, nearly stumbling a few times in her haste to get down. "How did you— Roxas!"

She rushed over to them completely out of breath, stopping in front of Axel and instantly reaching for Roxas' wrist to check for a pulse. "What happened?"

"He got hit by lightning," Axel said with a chuckle. Despite the humour in his voice his body had gone completely rigid, his eyes focussed intently on Kairi. His fingers twitched ever so slightly every once in a while as if he was resisting the urge to grab Kairi.

Kairi looked up at him, only now noticing him for the first time. She took a step back, her eyes widening. "You're one of them…"

"Don't worry, he's helping us," Sora smiled reassuringly. Kairi looked more than a little doubtful at the statement, but stopped backing away. Axel grinned at her, though it looked far more forced than ever before. "The name's Axel, got it memorized?"

"Got it… what?" Kairi looked at Sora in confusion. Sora laughed at her reaction. "It's something he says, ignore it."

Kairi continued to look at them in confusion but nodded nonetheless. Her eyes were suddenly drawn towards the door outside and she took another step back. "Those things are back…"

"Things?" Sora blinked before he sensed it too. Heartless were starting to appear outside now that Larxene wasn't killing them to keep them away from Kairi and their fight had stopped. "Don't worry, we can use a Dark Corrid—"

His eyes widened as he stared out of the door. "I left the keyblade outside!"

Axel groaned. "This is ridiculous," he muttered. Sora bit his lip nervously, his previous confidence completely gone. Maybe he really was as spineless as Riku thought if he was getting scared of Heartless again.

Sora blinked as he remembered what Riku had said about the keyblade. It appeared when they were in danger and all they had to do to summon it was to think about what they wanted to protect. So if that worked to summon it from thin air…

He looked over at Roxas, remembering his brother getting blasted by Larxene.

A dim flash lit the hall and the keyblade appeared in Sora's hand from out of nowhere. Kairi gasped in surprise and Sora sighed in relief. Axel raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. "Right, I could've told you that…" His eyes flashed over to Kairi once more before he managed to focus again, "Now, let's get out of here. I can't exactly fight like this."

Sora nodded before noticing a Shadow standing in the door opening, its gaze just as intense on Kairi as Axel's was. Kairi, having seen the Shadow as well, yelled for Sora to get out of the way as the Heartless jumped into the room, only to stare in shock as Sora whirled around and made the Shadow disappear into nothingness with a single hit. Her attention was then drawn to a portal of swirling, dark energy that appeared in front of Axel, the redhead quickly stepping to the side to let her and Sora go through first.

"What's going on?" she whispered, taking yet another step back.

Axel chuckled. "Explanations will come later. Come on so we can get out of here."

Kairi nodded numbly as she watched Sora kill another few Shadows. She turned and walked through the portal, her mind in complete chaos as she tried to figure out what had just happened.

Hopefully everything would make sense again after it had been explained to her.

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><p><strong>And so Kairi returns to us, Sora <strong>_**finally**_** gets to have a bit of character development, and Xemnas is down one hench…woman. I'd just call Larxene a henchman but I think she'd zap me… Well anyway, I hope you enjoyed and review guys.**


	8. Something About a Road Trip

**I'm going to an amusement park tomorrow! ^^ I adore roller-coasters to death, so I'm going to enjoy myself. °grins° All of you readers out there, be jealous!**

**Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys the chapter and R&R folks!  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 08 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About a Road Trip **

Kairi sat on the couch of the common room in the building the boys had used during their camping trip. Her hands were clasped over her heart and a stunned look still showed on her face. Sora glanced over at her for the fifth time since he'd finished telling the story of everything that had happened. Kairi hadn't moved for about ten minutes now and he was starting to get worried that she wasn't going to get over the shock of finding out why she'd been kidnapped.

Roxas was lying in the same bed he'd used when they'd been staying there. Although he almost certainly had a bad concussion, the electrical attack Larxene had sent his way had seemingly not done a lot of damage. Of course they were only guessing since none of them had any true medical knowledge, but they couldn't really go to a doctor to make sure Roxas was alright, as they were presumably dead. If something seemed really wrong with Roxas they could always still go.

Sora had chosen to not acknowledge the fact that something could be wrong already and they just couldn't tell. The thought of Roxas dying was just too much at the moment. All he could really do was hope Roxas would wake up soon.

Axel, despite having been hit by one of Larxene's fully powered attack, seemed to be doing just fine. Nobodies recovered a lot quicker than humans, obviously, and although he hadn't quite recovered entirely yet, it wouldn't take that much longer if he continued to heal at the rate that he had been doing. A new problem was that he was more absentminded and had a lot of trouble focussing on things with Kairi so close by, but now that he was only sensing one Princess of Heart instead of the six he'd sensed in the Realm of Darkness, he didn't seem to have nearly as much trouble fighting the urge to take Kairi's heart as before.

They had chosen to stay on the Destiny Islands despite the fact that the police could come back. There was still food there and after they'd returned, Sora had been reminded by his stomach that he hadn't eaten anything for an entire day. Kairi had gotten food while she'd been imprisoned, but it hadn't exactly been a lot so they'd decided to at least raid the fridge here while hoping the police wouldn't take notice of something like that. After that they'd decided to stay as long as the police hadn't come back since they really didn't have any other place to stay. Plus, Roxas needed rest to recover. Dragging him around wasn't very restful.

By now the sun was coming up, though Sora only knew this from the light filtering through the curtains. The curtains had luckily been closed already by the time of the attack so they wouldn't have to quickly reopen them if the police did show up. Suddenly finding things in different spots than where they were supposed to be really shouldn't happen. They were being as careful as possible not to move anything, but to be honest Sora doubted they were succeeding.

"When did life become weird?" Sora looked away from the curtains he'd been staring at and back at Kairi. She'd finally started moving again and, although she looked far from relaxed or at ease, she didn't seem too upset at the moment either. She was taking the news a lot better than Roxas had, in Sora's opinion.

"I think around the time Heartless were created, but we just didn't know until now," Sora smiled. "I think our lives became weird when Roxas decided to spend a night in a forest that has a portal to hell in it."

"Realm of Darkness, not hell." Axel sat down on the couch, making himself comfortable and taking up most of the couch in the process. "I haven't seen any dead people around so hell really isn't a good term."

Kairi shook her head. "It still feels like hell there." A shiver ran down her body and she wrapped her arms around herself. "I've always had a sixth sense of sorts when it comes to knowing who has good intensions and who doesn't, but I've never felt something as lifeless as that place."

"What did you expect? Sunshine and happy times in a place called the Realm of Darkness?" Axel snorted.

"So what are we going to do now?" Kairi looked down at the ground. "We can't go home, Roxas is unconscious, and if I was the one who was attracting the Heartless before, they'll just come back if we stay here."

"We can put you in Twilight Town for tonight in a place where no one can find you, and we'll stay here to wait for Silverlocks to show up again to give us our next orders," Axel shrugged.

Sora's head snapped up at the mention of Riku. "You think Riku will come back tonight?" Hopeful blue eyes looked at Axel and the redhead frowned.

"You have issues if you're falling for the guy that called you worthless." Sora instantly went red, head dropping back down as he mumbled something incoherently that was no doubt a denial of the accusation. Axel chose to ignore it. "Anyway, he'll probably show up. If he's on our side he'll come over to celebrate with milk and cookies. If he wants us dead and only sent us after Larxene because he thought we'd never beat her, he'll want to try again. Either way there's a pretty good chance he'll be back."

"Then why do I have to go to Twilight Town? What if someone finds me?" Kairi frowned, looking down at her hands that were playing with the hem of her dress nervously.

"You'll attract a lot of Heartless if you're still here by sundown. Plus, if this Xemnas guy is half as smart as Riku made him out to be, he'll come back here to look for you or send his minions to do it for him."

"Axel's right, it's not safe for you here during the night," Sora agreed. "Roxas and I slept in the Usual Spot yesterday." His voice turned quiet as he added: "No one comes there anymore, so you'll be fine there."

Kairi nodded silently, her hands clenching the hem of her dress. She didn't want to be left alone, but if she was only going to attract those strange creatures… She didn't want Sora to get hurt fighting them.

The police did show up again in the morning to their great disappointment. After a minute of quickly rounding up anything that might be out of place, Axel created a Dark Corridor into the forest and near the portal leading to the Realm of Darkness so he himself could run into it as fast as possible without being hurt too much by the sunlight. Luckily Dark Corridors were a bit more precise when used over short distances and Axel got through with his skin only showing a slightly reddish colour.

They stayed there quietly for the day, checking every so often if Roxas was still okay and hadn't suddenly had a heart attack or something like it. They were lucky that the forest was a complete maze of trees and bushes and that the police had already looked as hard as they could the previous day. Now they at least didn't have to move because someone was getting too close to them. Sora did go to check if they were still far enough away every so often but the police never showed any intention of entering the forest.

By the time early dusk had set in, Axel showed up through the portal to bring Kairi to the Usual Spot. Since it was still light outside he took a moment longer to try and place the Dark Corridor inside the actual hangout. By the time he returned, his skin had once again acquired a red glow to it that looked painful to Sora. Axel himself was whining about how annoying Dark Corridors could be and how much he hated the sun.

It wasn't until it had already become dark that the police finally left the island again and they could return to the camp. Axel offered to make some sort of dinner for him, but after he'd started walking towards the kitchen with flames already dancing around his hands, Sora figured he'd burn down the entire island if he let Axel anywhere near a stove. Axel pouted as Sora quickly said he'd make something for himself and asked if the redhead could change the bandage around Roxas' head instead. Sora, not having been let near a stove by his parents — and mostly Roxas — after he'd nearly blown up the oven as a kid, ended up with nothing more than a few sandwiches, but at least the place was still standing.

A few hours passed and Sora was starting to wonder if Riku would really show up when the door opened and Riku stepped inside with a frown on his face. "Where is she?"

"Twilight Town. Axel said she'd attract too many Heartless if she stayed so close to the portal." Only after he'd finished did he realise that they still weren't sure whether Riku was on their side or not, and that he might've just told the enemy where to find Kairi. He bit his lip, not for the first time hoping that Riku really was on their side and wasn't just pretending.

Riku simply nodded, completely oblivious to Sora's inner turmoil. "Where is Axel? I want to know what happened exactly."

"You could ask me, you know," Sora mumbled. Good-looking or not, Riku was plainly being a jerk to him.

"I'd rather hear the story from someone who didn't keep his eyes shut for most of the battle," Riku commented. As Sora looked up at him, an angry sort of hurt spreading through him, he noticed that Riku had that strangely distant look in his eyes again like the first time they'd met. Riku didn't even seem to have noticed that he'd insulted Sora. He'd simply stated what he thought was a fact.

The hurt Sora had felt at the statement ebbed away at the look, curiosity once more replacing it as he tried to figure out what was going on in Riku's head that he wouldn't know what statements like that could do to people.

The anger dissipated as well. Nobody or not, Riku had serious issues with his emotions so getting angry, and trying to glare at him wouldn't leave much of an impression. Plus, when he normally glared it never seemed to impress anyone either, so why would it get to someone who had problems feeling any kind of emotions in the first place. Instead, Sora simply smiled in a smug way — an expression not often found on his face — and spoke as Riku started heading for the bedroom Axel was taking care of Roxas in. "I was the one who finished off Larxene, actually. Axel was busy being electrocuted at the time and Roxas had just gotten knocked out."

Riku paused, turning around with an expression that screamed he didn't believe Sora. "You… killed Larxene." he deadpanned, eyebrow rising in question.

Sora's smile widened. "Yep."

Riku stared at him for a moment as if seeing him for the first time, going over everything he'd thought of Sora so far and still not willing to believe that the brunet was speaking the truth. Sora watched him, his smile turning into a grin as Riku frowned in confusion as if trying to work out an impossible problem.

"Fine, I'll bite. Tell me what happened." Riku walked over to the couch and sat down on the one opposite to Sora. Sora couldn't help but notice a glint in Riku's eyes, as if the silver-haired teen was challenging him to make him a believer.

And so Sora recounted what had happened the previous night, only briefly lingering on what had happened to Roxas. Thinking too much about what could be wrong with his brother just wasn't a good idea while trying to convince someone you're not a spineless wimp. Breaking down and crying really didn't seem like the best option for something like that.

Somewhere halfway through the story, Axel came back into the room. As Sora finished the story and Riku gave the redhead a questioning look, Axel merely shrugged. "The kid has guts when it comes to his friends, it seems."

"Stop calling me kid!" Sora pouted. Riku gave him a pointed look at the expression and Axel snorted at it. Sora's pout only increased. "I'm not a kid…"

"You're a thoroughly underestimated kid," Riku muttered, no doubt thinking it was soft enough so no one else would hear. Sora heard the words though, the pout fading from his face as he looked back at Riku in surprise. The other was once again taking him in, that confused and puzzled look still on his face. Apparently he still couldn't quite believe what he'd been told, but he was at the very least trying. Sora's smile returned before reminding himself that regardless of this, Riku was still a jerk. Just because the other might start acting a bit nicer now didn't mean that had changed.

Riku noticed the smile and his face turned from confused to indifferent. Beyond that Sora could once more see the distant, swirling pool of emotions that were being kept far away. His annoyance once more faded as his curiosity returned.

He just really wanted to know what was going on inside of Riku's head and what had made him turn out like this.

"Anyway, I expected you all to be dead or badly wounded." Riku's eyes flickered over to Sora before he continued, "So I brought something for the survivors. I guess Roxas will be the only one to use it since you two seem just fine." Riku withdrew a small vial with a clear, green liquid from his pocket and tossed it to Sora. Sora caught it and looked at it curiously.

"What is it?" he asked, not seeing any label on the vial.

"Something that will speed up the healing process. Put that on the wound and Roxas should wake up a lot sooner than he would have on his own." Riku answered. Anything he might have added as a further explanation was ignored as Sora jumped up from the couch and rushed into the bedroom. He never even noticed the amused glint that entered Riku's eyes as he rushed off.

Sora carefully removed the bandages around Roxas' head, letting the contents of the bottle spill onto the wound with equal care. He waited for a moment to see what would happen, but there was no visible change. Roxas simply continued to lie there, unconscious and unaware of the world around him. Sora's face fell in disappointment. He knew he shouldn't have expected anything to happen since Riku had clearly said that it would only speed up the process, not heal Roxas instantly, but he'd still hoped Roxas might've shown some sign of improvement.

He sighed and wrapped Roxas' head in bandages once more, staring down at Roxas for a few more moments before getting up and heading back into the common room.

Just as he'd grabbed the doorknob, he paused as he heard Axel and Riku talking. It wasn't so much the fact that they were talking that made him pause, but the accusatory tone Axel's voice held as he spoke.

"—hard to find without good connections. Where did you get it?"

"I've already told you that—"

"It's none of our business. That's not going to keep working, you know."

"We'll see. If they want my help, they'll have to deal with it. What does it matter anyway? As long as it helps stop Xemnas, nobody should be complaining."

"Nobody _is_ complaining." Sora could hear the smirk in Axel's voice and bit his lip to keep himself from laughing at the pun. Lame as it may be, the word 'nobody' really had gotten a different meaning.

"Just shut up and don't tell them anything unnecessary."

"Like what?" Sora finally stepped into the room completely, tilting his head slightly in curiosity as Riku looked at him. For a moment, the other teen looked like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't be doing, but then the look faded. "Nothing. Did you use the entire vial?"

Sora nodded, giving Axel a questioning look to see if he would explain what Riku and he had been talking about before. Axel didn't even notice the look, smirking smugly at Riku with a look that said: "I'll get you sooner or later, got it memorized?"

The fact that he was already adding the redhead's catchphrase to mere looks was a clear sign that Axel had been overusing it in Sora's opinion.

"Alright, Xemnas probably won't notice your friend is missing for tonight. The Nobodies guarding the Maidens are supposed to report in every once in a while, but from what I've understood, Larxene wasn't that consistent in her reports. Odds are that Xemnas won't suspect anything for a few days before he goes to check why Larxene isn't reporting in." Riku ran a hand through his hair distractedly as if trying to remember something but failing at it.

"So what do we do next?" Sora asked as he sat down. "If we have to get the other girls out of there…" His eyes automatically went back to the door behind him. A few more fights like the one they'd had against Larxene and they might all end up like that.

Noticing the worried look, Riku rolled his eyes. "I warned you multiple times but you never listened to me. Maybe now you'll believe me when I say you could all get killed."

"You're just annoyed that Roxas didn't want to follow your carefully-planned-out plan." Axel leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, a lazy but smug smile on his face. "Get over it and just enlighten us with the next plan so Roxy can screw it over when he wakes up."

Riku's eyebrow twitched for a moment before he managed to regain control of himself. "I'm hoping _Roxy_ will have learned his lesson from this and will actually agree to go look for the last free girl."

"We still don't know anything about her, though," Sora pointed out. "How are we supposed to find a girl we can only recognize by how pure her heart feels? I can't even sense hearts in this world…" It had been easier in the Realm of Darkness since the contrast between it and Kairi had been so great. Ever since they'd come back to the normal world though, he hadn't been able to sense anything from Kairi.

"Axel can sense her," Riku replied easily. "Xemnas is having trouble finding her because he consumes hearts regularly. The longer the period of time that you don't consume hearts, the sharper your ability to sense them becomes. Axel will be able to sense her from much further away than Xemnas or the other Nobodies that follow him can."

"So why doesn't he just stop eating hearts for a while?" Sora asked in confusion.

"He doesn't know that would actually help him find the last girl. He's never gone without a heart for long periods of time, so he's never been in a position to find out about that little detail."

"So how do you know?" Axel raised an eyebrow. "And who says I haven't been eating hearts as well?"

Riku ignored the first question. "Because you're a weakling compared to the other Nobodies I've seen."

If Axel had been able to become angry, he surely would have at that comment. Since all his emotions were dulled to the extreme though, he only felt a mild pang of irritation that he easily swatted away. "Don't you know how to sweet-talk a guy," he practically crooned, his eyes half-lidded as he looked at Riku. "Please continue. I just can't get enough of your wonderful words."

"How do you stand having him around you constantly?" Riku looked back at Sora. Sora laughed at the question.

"Simple, he only ever goes after Roxas."

Riku shook his head, glancing over at the door leading to the bedroom Roxas was in with a pitying look before focussing back on the conversation at hand. "To get back to the point, Axel will have a much easier time finding the last girl than Xemnas, and Xemnas himself has already looked in quite a few places to find her. With six of the seven girls found, he's already looked around most of the world. Unless she travels around non-stop, I can actually point you in a general direction."

"Which is?" Sora asked.

"Arabia," Riku answered. "Since there's not exactly a lot of shade there, searching during the day is practically impossible. That's why Xemnas tends to leave that area and others like it for last in his search. He's already looked through places like Egypt so it's been narrowed down quite a bit already."

Sora's eyes lit up at the answer. A large grin appeared on his face that generally meant he'd gotten his hands on sugar and energy drink. It was the type of grin that even Roxas would back away from when it appeared on Sora's face.

"We're going to Arabia?"

Riku looked almost afraid to answer the question. "…Yes?"

Sora's eyes lit up as he jumped up from the couch, punching the air enthusiastically. "Road trip!"

Riku and Axel could only stare and wonder what was to become of the world if its fate was in the hands of someone who considered a quest to save the world a 'road trip'.

"We're doomed, aren't we?" Riku muttered, not really expecting an answer. Axel gave one anyway, amusement clearly visible on his face as he watched Sora jump up and down on the couch. "Yep, completely and utterly beyond saving."

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><p><strong>And so, Sora finally got his own little chapter. From this point forward I'll be switching between Roxas and Sora so I can actually get into both their heads. It's annoying to write a pairing when you can't see what's going on in at least one of their heads.<strong>

**Reviews make Roxas wake up from his coma sooner!**


	9. Something About a Rude Awakening

**Alright, this chapter is up a bit early because I****'m about to leave to go to a birthday. You can thank the two guys throwing their party tonight for getting to read this earlier. Enjoy guys and R&R!  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 09 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About a Rude Awakening **

Roxas groaned as he finally returned to the world of the waking. His body felt strange and tingly, and his head tried to kill him whenever he moved it even an inch.

He tried to push everything away to go back to sleep. There was something nagging at the back of his head though, trying to make him remember something he probably didn't want to remember. Roxas tried to ignore it, push it away, _anything_ so he wouldn't have to deal with it right now and so he could just go back to sleep. The nagging never stopped though and Roxas groaned, giving in to the feeling and letting whatever memories he so desperately needed to remember come back to him.

Heartless, keyblades, Axel, Riku, magical powers, demons, a rescue attempt, Larxene—

His eyes flew open and he found himself sitting straight up in bed before even realising it. He groaned as the action made his head spin slightly and he leaned back on his elbows to steady himself. He looked around in confusion, seeing the bedroom he'd stayed in during the camping trip. Had everything been a dream after all?

"Finally awake, I see." Roxas looked towards the door to see Axel entering the room. No, it hadn't been a dream. _Fuck_.

"What happened?" Roxas frowned, trying to remember what had happened during the fight with Larxene. Right, he'd gotten zapped by her just as Sora and he had gone in to attack her. He'd been thrown back and then… nothing. He had no idea what had happened after that.

Wait, where was Sora?

His eyes widened and he shot up again, looking around and trying to ignore the way his vision started to spin as he did. "Where's Sora?"

"He's in the common room, bouncing up and down on… pretty much everything really."

Roxas relaxed for only a split-second before the words registered and he slowly looked at the door leading to the common room. "Did you give him sugar?"

"Nope, though if this is how he gets when he's had sugar I think I'll stock up on sugar cubes." Axel grinned at the disbelieving look Roxas gave him. "What? He's fun like this."

"He's a danger to anyone like this," Roxas corrected. Whenever Sora became hyperactive, he generally didn't really think about anyone's well-being. If a thought popped up in his head that he wanted to get done, it _would_ get done. It didn't matter what he had to go through to get what he wanted, he would get it.

"Like I said, fun." Axel chuckled and sat down on the bed. "Now hold still so I can change that bandage."

"Bandage?" Roxas frowned, following Axel's gaze with his hand and suddenly noticing the bandage around his head. Well, now he knew why his head was trying to kill him.

Axel smirked at the apparently still dazed Roxas, quickly pulling the blond's back against his chest and wrapping an arm around him. "Didn't I just tell you to hold still?"

Roxas' eyes narrowed and he tried to pull away. "Let go, damn it! Let go!" The struggling only made his head spin even more though, and he groaned as he was forced to stop. He heard Axel chuckle again, the hand around his waist making sure to touch as much as possible as it went up to remove the old bandage around his head. Roxas' fists clenched at the action, but unless he wanted to end up on the ground because he couldn't keep his balance, he really didn't have much of a choice but to sit there.

"Come on, _Roxy_. I seem to remember you trying to get closer to me while I was carrying you here." Axel's voice sounded almost like a purr, especially as he spoke that stupid nickname. An involuntary shiver ran down Roxas' spine at the tone and he cursed himself, hoping Axel hadn't noticed it. Judging from the chuckle that followed though, he had. Roxas cursed himself again before trying to distract both himself and Axel. "What happened with Larxene? And why does my head hurt so much?" he winced as the bandages came loose.

"Larxene managed to blast you away just before you could hit her. You hit your head pretty hard on one of the rocks. Sora managed to block Larxene's attack though and started hitting her like crazy from what I could hear."

A memory floated back and Roxas remembered hearing Axel getting blasted with a damned big electrical attack. He tried to glance over his shoulder to see if Axel was alright, but failed due to his current position. "You were hit too…"

"You _do_ care about me! I knew it!" The bandage fell from his head completely and both of Axel's arms wrapped around his waist this time in a death-hug. Roxas gasped before trying to struggle free again, only for his head to spin once more. "Damn it, stop that!"

He felt Axel nuzzle his neck, lips brushing the skin there and making yet another involuntary shiver run down his spine. Then Axel pulled away again to put a new bandage around his head, which had thankfully not bumped into anything during Axel's little assault. Roxas could hear the smirk in the redhead's voice as he continued his story. Obviously he'd felt the shiver again.

"Sora managed to beat Larxene with some help from me and there's not that much more to tell. We got Kairi out of there and I had to carry you since no one else was strong enough to. You_ really_ liked being carried by me. You didn't even want me to let go of you when we got back here."

The momentary relief at hearing that Kairi and Sora were both safe was ruined once more by Axel's further commentary. Roxas' eyebrow twitched at the comment.

"I was unconscious and you're extremely warm. You could have been trying to kill me and I would've still tried to get closer to you," he grumbled back. And it was true. Axel's body temperature was higher than anyone else's. He could actually feel his back becoming slightly sweaty, pressed up against Axel's chest.

"I know I'm hot." Roxas could hear the grin in the redhead's voice. Axel finished bandaging his head and just as Roxas had started hoping that Axel would finally put some space between them, he found himself being scooped up into the redhead's arms and being carried into the common room.

"What the hell? _Let go!_" Axel's arms only pulled him closer, the grin on his face widening.

"Sora's been worried. He'll want to see you."

"I can walk on my own!" Roxas tried to push himself out of Axel's grasp once more, only to groan as his head protested yet again. "Damn it."

Axel snorted, "You'll fall over if you walk on your own."

Roxas knew Axel was right, but that wasn't gong to stop him from arguing. He continued to protest as they entered the common room, both Sora and Kairi watching them as Axel walked over to the couch and sat down. Roxas tried to get out of the redhead's lap — he could sit on his own just fine — but Axel wrapped his arms around him once again and kept him in place. Roxas fumed as he was forced to sit there, easily sensing the smirk that was on Axel's face.

Any further complaints he could've given were wiped from his mind as Sora jumped up from the couch and flew over to him, hugging him — while he was still being held in place by Axel — and refusing to let go. "You're okay! I thought you were going to die!"

A hyperactive and upset Sora at the same time was a very weird Sora…

Roxas' anger died away at the distressed yet relieved look Sora gave him and he couldn't help but smile. "Come on, I'm not that easy to get rid of. A stupid rock isn't going to kill me."

Sora's face morphed into one of happiness, the brunet smiling at him brightly as he tightened his hug. Axel pouted from behind Roxas, still refusing to let go. "Kid, I was trying to molest him. Wait your turn."

And Sora listened.

The brunet quickly let go of Roxas and sat back down on the couch, bouncing ever so slightly while the bright smile remained on his face.

Roxas stared at him in disbelief. "Don't listen to him! Get me away from him!"

Sora bit his lip, though not out of nervousness this time. Roxas' eyebrow twitched yet again as he saw Sora desperately trying to hold back laughter. "Sorry, Roxas."

Roxas stared for a moment longer before going back to fuming silently, arms crossing in a defiance that couldn't show itself in any other way.

Kairi spoke up for the first time Axel and he had entered the room, her voice hesitant and unsure of what exactly was going on. "Is your head okay, Roxas?"

One of Roxas' hands came up to feel at the back of his head, wincing slightly as he rubbed the wound through the bandages. "It's not as bad as I thought it would be after hitting a rock like that…"

"Riku gave you something that's supposed to speed up the healing process," Sora said, still bouncing up and down on the couch. In fact, he seemed to be bouncing more and more as time went by. "He said you should be okay by tomorrow morning if you take it easy." His smile widened as he glanced from Axel to Roxas. "You should probably stop struggling for that."

Roxas' eyes narrowed on his brother. "Get me away from him and I'll be as calm and quiet as you want me to be."

Sora simply continued to smile, not moving an inch closer. Roxas would have sulked if he didn't think that it would just give Axel another reason to find him cute.

"Maybe we should let him sleep some more?" Kairi suggested, still looking lost at the behaviour both Roxas and Axel were exhibiting. She was used to Roxas' temper, but had never met anyone who could brush it off like Axel was doing while continuing to do the exact thing Roxas was trying to stop. It was more than a little strange to see Roxas like this.

Roxas was about to fully agree with her when his stomach rumbled. He could practically feel the smirk on Axel's face widening. "I think Roxas should eat first. And since I'm not allowed to go into the kitchen anymore, why don't you two make him something to eat?"

Roxas groaned, only barely stopping himself from slapping his own forehead. Doing that in the state he was in would probably end up knocking him out. Who knew what Axel would do with him—

Wait, he'd probably been knocked out for quite some time already. Who knew what Axel had already done…?

Fuck, that was a thought he really did _not_ want to go into.

"Okay." Sora jumped up from the couch and rushed over to the kitchen. "We also have to tell him about the road trip first!"

"Road trip?" Roxas frowned, looking over at Kairi questioningly.

"Riku told him that the last girl is probably in Arabia and you should go after her rather than risking your lives trying to free the other girls again." Kairi looked at her hands, looking torn between trying to keep her friends alive and freeing the other five Maidens of the Purest Heart from the place she herself had been so scared of after only having been there for a day.

Roxas opened his mouth to argue once more that they still didn't know anything about the last girl and they should go after the ones they did know how to find, when he realised that they'd only barely survived this fight. He wasn't one to get scared easily, but looking up danger was something only a fool would do.

His mouth closed again and he nodded slowly. He hated to admit it but Riku really had been right when he'd said the other Nobodies were too much for them. They'd only beaten Larxene because she'd enjoyed toying with them and hadn't just finished them off in one blast.

Any hopes of Axel maybe letting go of him while he ate were thrown out of the window as Axel stole the plate of food Sora came back with and attempted to feed him. If Roxas hadn't been so hungry — how long had it been since he'd last eaten anyway? — he would've pushed the plate, food and all, into Axel's face. As it was though, he was too hungry to waste the food. He thankfully managed to steal the place back after a bit of struggling. Axel still didn't let go of him though, and no matter how many pleading looks he gave Sora, the brunet just continued to bounce up and down on the couch in excitement.

He almost wished he hadn't woken up. Sadly, the thought of what Axel might do to him while he was unconscious was even more disturbing to him than continuing to sit in the redhead's lap. He really did wonder what might have happened during the time he hadn't been awake. At least he didn't feel sore so it couldn't have been too bad, right?

"So, Arabia?" Roxas asked as he finished his food, Axel stealing the plate away from him yet again to put somewhere out of his reach. Damn, there went a potential weapon.

Sora's eyes lit up even more than they already had been and his bouncing increased. "Riku said Xemnas has already looked almost everywhere in the world for the last girl and Arabia is the last place he hasn't looked yet. Xemnas can't look there during the day since there's barely any shade around for him to hide in."

Roxas frowned. "Won't we have the same problem since Axel's the only one that can sense her heart?"

"I'm apparently better at sensing hearts since I've never eaten any," Axel replied. "We might only be able to look at night but I'll still sense her from further away than Xemnas will."

Roxas glanced over his shoulder to find Axel's gaze fixed on Kairi, his eyes showing a mixture of hunger and revulsion. He supposed Axel was probably having a hard time resisting the power of a heart as pure as Kairi's was.

Kairi wasn't oblivious to the gaze either. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and continued to play with the hem of her dress. "So what do I do in the mean time? If I come along Xemnas will probably sense me and might recapture me."

There was silence for a moment as they considered the problem, the quiet broken only by the squeaking sound the couch made as Sora continued to bounce even while he thought. Roxas sighed in the end and looked up at Kairi apologetically. "You'll have to stay here."

"The police still come here to investigate what happened and if I'm here at night, the Heartless will just come back for me," Kairi pointed out.

"The police still… then what are _we_ doing here?" Roxas' eyes widened, his eyes flying to the window to try and judge what time it was from how bright the light was. The curtains blocked out most of the light but he could see a dim glow coming through. It was probably still early morning.

"We have nowhere else to go." Sora's bouncing stopped and for a moment he looked down at the ground, his head down and hair falling into his eyes. Roxas was about to try and free himself once more from Axel's grasp to go over and comfort his brother, his heart clenching at the sight, but Sora's head came up again with a forceful smile. Whenever Sora suppressed his emotions like this, he really didn't want to talk about what was bothering him. "Axel creates a Dark Corridor for us whenever the police shows up, and we try to keep everything here the way it looked when the Heartless attacked."

Roxas settled down again, realising all too well that Sora had a point. They really didn't have anywhere else to go. "Okay, so if we can't leave Kairi here, then where?"

Another silence fell.

"The tunnels," Kairi finally said. Roxas and Sora looked up at her in surprise. Kairi had always gone out of her way to avoid that place.

"Why there?" Roxas asked. "I thought you hated that place."

"I do," Kairi admitted, "but there are a lot of places to hide in case anyone goes down there. Plus, it's dark there so Axel can come and go to bring me food and water." She looked over at the redhead hesitantly. "If he wants to, that is."

Axel seemed less than happy with the idea of being around Kairi, but shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure, no problem."

With that decided, Sora's bouncing started up once more. "So we can go now? The police will probably show up again today so we should leave as soon as possible."

"It's day." Axel shook his head. "If we go there now, I'll burn to a crisp."

"And here I thought you liked burning," Roxas muttered. Axel's arms tightened around him in response and Roxas' lips pressed into a fine line to keep himself from saying anything else.

"Plus, Roxy here isn't completely healed yet. We wouldn't want him to knock himself out again, now would we?" Roxas could feel the smirk once again as Axel spoke, "I think he should get some more sleep."

Yet another shiver ran down his spine at the way Axel had spoken. What the _hell_ had happened while he'd been asleep?

Sora pouted, but settled down on the couch once more. The prospect of Roxas ending up worse than he was now was far more upsetting than the idea of going to Arabia excited him. "We have to get away from here before the police comes, so Roxas probably won't be able to sleep…"

"Which means we should probably put everything back in its place and get ready to leave before they get here." Roxas tried to struggle free once more. "So let go and do something useful!"

Axel let go at long last with a look of disappointment. Roxas was forced to continue sitting on the couch as the others put everything back where it belonged. Just as they'd finished, Axel's head snapped in the direction of the small harbour on the island. "They're here."

Axel quickly focused and created a Dark Corridor into the forest, hoping his aim would be a bit better this time than last and he wouldn't end up landing them in a clearing with a lot of sunlight. Roxas was about to get up to walk through the portal himself, only to be picked up by Axel once more and carried through the portal. Roxas twitched, crossing his arms in irritation. He couldn't wait for his head to return back to normal again so he could punch Axel without feeling like he was going to faint.

…Even _if_ he really was nice and warm.

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><p><strong>There, that <strong>**ought to satisfy the AkuRoku fans for a while. I know the pairings are taking me a while but it's kind of necessary. Next chapter, more plot-related things! See you all next week and review guys!**


	10. Something About a Discovery

**Alrighty, ****I personally had a lot of fun writing this chapter and quite a lot happens in it. It probably won't seem like it as you read over the chapter, but trust me when I say that this chapter is rather important for a lot of things. I hope everyone enjoys and R&R folks!  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 10 :-**_-_**  
><strong>**Something About a Discovery **

Sora _adored_ Arabia.

He wasn't even entirely sure why he liked it so much. He was used to the warm weather from Twilight Town, so it wasn't as if this was that big of a change. Most of what there was to see involved sand, sand, and more sand, and he didn't understand a word people around him were saying. Still, for some reason he was having the time of his life, even if they weren't really getting anywhere in their search for the last Princess. Besides, they'd only been there for two days and according to Riku, Xemnas hadn't gotten that much further than they had so they probably still had all the time in the world. There was no harm in having a bit of fun in the meantime.

It was currently night time and Axel had left to try and cover as much ground as possible in one night without missing any spots the last girl could be hiding in. Roxas and he had managed to find an abandoned and rather run-down house — something Arabia did not seem to have a lack of — and they were using it to sleep during the day.

Their little switch from staying up during the night and sleeping during the day still hadn't entirely settled in completely, and so Sora was currently sitting on the balcony of the second story, looking out over the city as he very nearly dozed off. He knew they'd agreed that since Axel could only search during the night they should probably switch around to match the redhead's sleeping pattern for when he actually found the last girl, but it wasn't as easy to switch day and night around as some people had always made it seem. Then again, it could just be because he had hardly slept at all in the days prior to them coming here and he was still recovering from that.

He yawned as he watched the lights flicker outside. He had almost dozed off when he saw a shadow from the corner of his eye and turned towards the entrance of the balcony to see Riku stepping outside. Judging from the tired expression he would usually try to hide, Sora doubted the other had noticed him. Riku had been checking in with them every night to see if they'd found anything yet. Roxas only ever answered the question of whether or not they'd found the last princess, never where they'd looked already. Since Riku still hadn't revealed his motives, Roxas insisted they couldn't trust the other. Sora couldn't bring himself to believe that Riku was really trying to lure them into a trap. It could very well be his hormones talking, but in his opinion there were far easier and faster ways to get them killed.

Watching him now, Sora couldn't help but think Riku looked even more exhausted than Roxas and he himself did. Sora had to wonder if Riku would really put so much effort into getting a group of people killed, completely exhausting himself in the process, when he could just lead an army of Heartless to them to kill them. Keyblade or no keyblade, an army of Heartless would be pretty hard to beat.

"Riku?" The silver-haired teen's gaze shot down to him, obviously startled by his presence. Sora sat up curiously, his fatigue forgotten for the time being. "Are you okay?"

"Of course, why do you ask?" The exhaustion that Sora had previously been able to see so clearly disappeared behind the carefully blank expression that Riku tried very hard to keep up. Although Riku had become much less of a jerk, he still wasn't one to show anybody what was really going on with him by choice.

Sora smiled, the determination to decipher Riku only having grown since he'd first seen that distant, swirling pool of emotions in the other's eyes. "You just looked tired. You should really take a break or something."

Riku shook his head. "Really, I'm fine. I don't have time to take a break anyway."

"Axel's out to try and find the last girl and you've already talked to Roxas," Sora pointed out, "Just come and sit down here and take a break for a while. You seriously look like you could use it, even if you try to hide it."

Riku stared at him for a moment, once more looking like he was trying to figure out a very difficult problem. After a minute he finally shook his head and sighed, walking over and sitting down on the balcony as well. "I give up."

Sora tilted his head. "Give up?"

"I can't figure you out."

"What's there to figure out?" Sora blinked. "Most people think I'm an open book."

Riku chuckled, a smile working its way onto his face for the first time since Sora had met him. "Not like that. I just can't decide whether you're as innocent and weak as I first thought you were, or if you're actually the complete opposite of that. You look like you wouldn't hurt a fly and yet everyone insists that you were the one who killed Larxene. I just can't figure out what you're really like."

Sora pouted at being reminded that Riku still didn't believe he'd beaten Larxene and thought he was weak. "Can't I just be a nice guy who can kick ass?"

"You'd be the first one I've ever met." Riku continued to stare at him, his eyes searching for an answer he wasn't going to find so easily. "So far I've only ever met people who were either nice but weak, or assholes but strong. Strong people just don't bother with being nice generally because it doesn't get them anything and no one can stop them."

Sora stared at the silver-haired teen for a moment before shaking his head. "That's stupid."

Riku burst into laughter. He just couldn't help it. Sora had said it as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world and it had just come out sounding funny.

Sora watched as Riku's entire demeanour changed. The first time he'd seen Riku he'd been undeniably attracted to him. It was a fact that Riku was good-looking and girls would probably kill to go out with him. Regardless of this, Riku's behaviour towards him had stopped Sora from being anything more than just attracted to him. Yes, he'd wanted to impress Riku by proving he wasn't a weakling, but that was also out of a sense of pride. His determination to figure out what was going on in Riku's head had been driven by curiosity and even concern, not because Riku looked like he could be a supermodel.

Now, though, as Riku laughed and for the first time seemed like the teenager he was, Sora was very aware of the fluttering in his stomach. He apparently had issues, as Axel had previously stated it.

Trying to ignore the odd sensation, Sora pouted as Riku continued to laugh. "Don't laugh at me!"

Riku shook his head, trying to calm down enough to speak normally. "I'm not laughing at you." He wiped away a tear that had formed in his eyes and smiled, still chuckling lightly. "You're just so different from the people I normally see. Hearing you call them stupid just…" He shook his head again, unable to come up with the word he was trying to find.

Sora stopped pouting, smiling back at the other. "You have a lot of stupid people in your life."

Riku burst into laughter again and this time, Sora didn't interrupt him. Riku actually looked relaxed while laughing, his eyes not showing the forced, distant look. He looked… normal.

Sora bit his lip as he felt his heart flutter once more.

Riku slowly calmed down again, wiping more tears away from his face and grinning. "You're an impossibility, Sora. I think you're the only person alive I'll never be able to figure out."

Sora simply grinned back, more than a little pleased with himself. "You're pretty hard to figure out too, you know."

Riku's entire demeanour changed once more. The relaxed, grinning and presumably happy teenager disappeared in less than a second and to Sora's great dismay, the distant, serious, and often cold one took his place. "You shouldn't be trying to figure me out."

Sora's shoulders sagged and his heart fell. He looked down at the floor of the balcony in disappointment. If he had just kept his mouth shut, Riku would still be smiling at him right now. "I just want to know why you always act so cold," he mumbled, not expecting Riku to hear him. Riku did hear, though, and his face froze over even more.

"There's nothing about me that you need to know."

Sora drew his knees up to his chest and glared at the floor. He wasn't sure whether he was angrier at himself for ruining the moment or at Riku for turning back into his cold self the moment the conversation switched to anything personal about him. "I still want to know."

Riku stood up without a word and started walking towards the door, his expression blank but his aura angry. Sora glanced up at him as he went, the image of a smiling and laughing Riku in his mind's eye. That was the Riku he wanted to get to know. That was the part of Riku he could usually only see in that distant swirl of emotions. That was the Riku he was determined to bring out.

He stood up to stop Riku from walking away when they heard a sudden crash, followed by Roxas' voice calling out both their names. Both Sora and Riku rushed down the stairs to find Roxas fighting a group of Heartless. More Heartless were appearing out of nowhere each time Roxas managed to beat a few.

It was a good thing the house was spacious and already broken-down. Roxas would have probably torn down some of the walls otherwise.

Sora quickly summoned his keyblade and ran towards the first Heartless he saw. He saw balls of dark energy fly past him and knew Riku was taking out several Heartless as well. Rhapsodies of several colours, Shadows, a fire-breathing variant of the Large Bodies, they were all coming at them in droves. Sora could hardly keep up with deflecting all the different attacks while still getting rid of the Heartless, let alone keep up with how Roxas and Riku were doing. Where were these things coming from?

A stinging sensation shot through his arm and Sora jumped away, seeing two new types of Heartless he hadn't seen before. Both were short and wielded blades, one only using one sword and the other using two. One of the blades of a dual-wilding Heartless had a red edge to it, drops of blood dripping from the tip. Sora glanced down at his arm to see a cut on his left one, blood trickling out of it in small streams. He could hardly feel the cut at the moment, too much adrenaline pumping through his body to let the feeling fully sink in. Sora was sure that if the Heartless managed to cut him a few more times though, he was definitely going to feel it.

The Heartless that had previously attacked lunged at him once more, Sora blocking the attack and feeling more blood run down his arm as he pushed back and tried to hit the Heartless with his keyblade. The blow hit but all the Heartless did was take a step back. Sora's next blow was easily blocked by one of the two swords, the other sword coming at him from a different side. Sora jumped away again, parrying the blow as best he could.

He was so focussed on the fight that he didn't notice a Heartless just like the one he was fighting lunging at him from behind. He didn't hear Roxas calling out to him from the other side of the room. He didn't notice anything until Riku suddenly pushed him out of the way, the sound of steel on steel echoing through the house. Sora winced as he fell — luckily on his right arm — and looked up in surprise. His eyes widened as he saw Riku fighting two of the Heartless he'd been fighting before, a sword shaped like a demonic wing in hand. It wasn't so much the fact that Riku could apparently fight with more than just those dark balls of energy that made Sora stare though.

The sword had the same feel to it as the keyblades did.

The sword cut through the two Heartless as if they were nothing, and Sora vaguely noticed that the flow of Heartless had at long last stopped. He heard footsteps behind him and glanced over his shoulder to see Roxas crouching down behind him, narrowed eyes focussed on Riku as he panted slightly from his own fight.

Riku turned around to face them, noticing them both staring and only now seeming to realise what he was holding. He glanced down at the sword in his hands before letting it disappear and pretending it hadn't just been there. "Xemnas probably knows where you're hiding. There's no portal around here so it's not likely that so many Heartless would come here on their own."

Roxas completely ignored the attempt at a distraction. "That was a keyblade."

Riku, in turn, tried to ignore what Roxas had said. "You should probably find a new hideout in a different town as soon as Axel comes back."

"Why didn't you tell us you were a keyblade wielder as well?"

"When does Axel usually come back? Xemnas might send more Heartless—"

"Riku," Sora said softly. Surprisingly, the silver-haired teen instantly fell silent, averting his eyes. Sora had already seen the look of anger though. It had been as clear as day to him in Riku's eyes. The anger hadn't been directed at them, though. The anger had seemed to be directed at himself.

"Go find a new hideout," Riku said softly, walking past them towards the entrance of the house. Sora scrambled to his feet, wincing at the pain in his arm. He ignored it, grabbing Riku's arm before the other could leave. Riku stopped, though he didn't turn around to face them. "You're a keyblade master?"

There was a moment of silence before Riku finally turned around, his face once more the blank mask he usually wore. Even his eyes, which usually still spoke volumes to Sora, were blank now. "Yes, so?"

"I thought Sora and I were the only keyblade wielders left?" Roxas asked, his eyes still narrowed and his tone torn between confusion and anger.

"I never said that," Riku answered. "And it doesn't matter either way. I've already told you that I can't help you fight, so it doesn't matter what I fight with."

'_Can't? He's always said 'won't' before…'_ Sora bit his lip. This at least explained how Riku had known so much about the keyblade itself, though if he really hadn't ever eaten any hearts it was still strange how he knew so much about the time the keyblade clan had been killed. What was even odder was the fact that, although Riku had said it didn't matter, he'd obviously wanted to keep them in the dark about the fact that he was a keyblade master. And then there was that look of anger towards himself just before he'd tried to walk away…

'_Why does he have to be so closed off?'_

Riku pulled his arm free from Sora's grasp, turning towards the door once more. "Find a new hideout. I won't come around for a while so tell Kairi where you're hiding and I'll go and ask her when I do want to find you again."

He walked out of the door without another word. Sora stared after him, still trying to figure out what was going on.

He felt someone take his injured arm and winced as it was lifted. He turned to see Roxas examining the cut. "We need to clean and bandage this."

"With what? There are no bandages here and the only clean water we have is what we brought to drink." Sora pulled his arm free. "We can't do anything until Axel gets back."

"When you do want the guy around, he's nowhere to be found," Roxas muttered, crossing his arms and glaring at the door. Sora smiled.

"You don't find him half as annoying as you did in the beginning."

Roxas glared at him. "He's annoying, irritating, perverted—"

"Funny," Sora cut in, his smile widening.

"Idiotic," Roxas corrected.

"And you've started to like him," Sora finished. The glare on Roxas' face turned into a disbelieving stare. No doubt he was questioning Sora's sanity for even thinking to say such a thing, let alone voice it. "You're kidding, right?"

Sora simply continued to smile, trying not to be too amused at how deep-rooted Roxas' denial apparently was. Roxas just shook his head, the disbelief never leaving his face. "I hit him with keyblades and you think I like him. Honestly…"

Sora just shrugged, his amusement only growing. "You've never reacted so strongly to someone. Usually when people annoy you, you ignore them because they're not worth your time. The fact that you keep getting angry at Axel only proves you like him."

Roxas frowned at him before shaking his head. "You're insane. There is nothing likeable about him. Now shut up and go sit somewhere so I can at least try and clean that cut with some of the drinking water we have here."

Sora sat down as he had been told, the knowing smile never leaving his face. Roxas glared down at his arm in annoyance as he tried his best to clean away most of the blood without wasting too much of the water. Sora knew his smile was only irritating Roxas further, but his brother had trouble letting others close to him. They'd grown up with their old friends from Twilight Town, so naturally Roxas had never tried to keep them out. It had taken Kairi two years after she'd moved to their town — two years of hanging out with them regularly because Sora had taken an instant liking to her — before he'd finally admitted that Kairi was his friend as well.

If Roxas didn't like or care about someone, they were plainly ignored. If one of his friends annoyed him, as Hayner tended to do on a regular basis, Roxas would get annoyed and snap at them, but he'd never been violent towards them. He was doing everything but ignoring Axel though. Roxas argued with Axel all the time and — except whenever Axel tried to keep Roxas in a death-grip in one way or another — made no attempts to distance himself either. The behaviour was completely different from how Roxas would act if he'd really found Axel as annoying as he claimed he did.

"Stop looking at me that way," Roxas grumbled. "If one of us is falling for someone, it's you."

The smile faded from Sora's lips and he looked away. "What do you mean?"

Roxas snorted, looking up at him with a smirk. "You can barely go five minutes without mentioning Riku in one way or another."

Sora blushed and it was his turn to stay quiet this time as Roxas smiled knowingly at him. The image of Riku smiling and laughing once more entered Sora's mind and his blush only deepened. "Is my arm okay?"

Roxas' smile turned into an amused one as he looked back down at the wound. "The cut isn't that deep. Don't move around too much until Axel gets here so he can take you back to the Destiny Islands, and you'll probably be fine."

Sora nodded and stood up. He walked back upstairs so he could continue to sit on the balcony and stare out at the city below, hopefully distracting himself from the pain that was now starting to make itself known.

As he sat there his mind automatically went back to Riku, and Sora glared at the floor as he fully realised that yes, Roxas was right. He was falling for Riku. Not the Riku that kept pushing everyone away, refused to tell them anything, and insulted people without even realising it, though. He was falling for the Riku he could see in that distant gaze and the one that had sat next to him on the balcony, smiling and laughing with him.

Sora's eyes watched the lights outside mindlessly, seeing them but not really taking them in anymore. He was going to find out what was going on with Riku even if it was the last thing he did. He refused to give up on this.

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><p><strong>Okay, so I don't generally like to <strong>**whine about reviews beyond putting 'Review!' at the end of my chapters, but it's been quite disappointing how few people have bothered to press the review button. I've been getting more than enough hits so I know there are more than enough people out there that read the story. **

**Now, I'm not going to start saying '5 reviews befo****re I update!' because the story has practically been written in its entirety already and I wrote it because I enjoyed doing so in the first place. However, I post it here because I want to know what other people think and so people can point out where I might be able to improve. **

**I'm sure most of you are ju****st going to ignore this entire author's note and will just click the chapter away as soon as you're done reading, but for all of you who did stick around to read this, please take a moment to tell me what your thoughts on the story are. I've put a lot of time and effort into writing this, so it would be nice if you all took a minute to put down what you think of the story.**

**Please review.**


	11. Something About a Princess

**First off, I'd like to thank the people who actually reviewed me after my little rant last chapter. ****I wasn't actually expecting anyone to read that, let alone react to it, so I was rather surprised when I did end up getting a few reviews for it. I really want to say thank you to those people, as well as the people who were already reviewing me, and I hope you all continue to give me feedback.**

**With that said, here's the next chapter guys. To all of you who have been wondering how the hell Riku's been getting his information – keep reading! You might just find out XD R&R guys.  
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><p><em>-<em>**-: 11 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About a Princess **

As the sun started to rise above the horizon, a Dark Corridor appeared just outside of a broken-down, albeit spacious house. Axel stepped out, cursing as the first rays of light hit his skin. He fled inside the building, rubbing the spot on his arm that was now stinging and turning red in irritation.

"And here I thought albinos were easily sunburned." Roxas watched the redhead run into the room, putting away the book he'd made Axel steal from his house just before they'd come to Arabia. It wasn't like his mother was going to notice the book was gone as she hadn't even known he'd owned it in the first place. Murder mystery books weren't exactly the type of books she would approve of him reading.

"Albinos have nothing on me," Axel sighed. "I've got some good news, though."

"You found the last girl?" Roxas asked, more out of habit than an actual belief that Axel might have found her. Arabia was big and he still wasn't even convinced they were looking in the right place.

"Yep."

If Roxas hadn't already put his book down, it would've surely fallen from his hands. He stared in surprise at Axel. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, just before the sun rose I sensed her at the very edge of the area I could feel. I couldn't go and make sure, but her heart feels the same as Kairi's does." He grinned, "So where's my reward?"

Roxas scowled at the suggestive look that Axel sent his way. "Go get yourself a cookie."

"Not what I was aiming for." Axel huffed and crossed his arms as if insulted. Roxas rolled his eyes, Sora's comments still fresh in his mind despite all the hours that had passed since they'd been voiced. He was going to treat Axel like he would anyone else, proving that he didn't like the redhead.

"Just tell me where the last girl is so we can go and protect her. We have to leave here anyway."

Axel raised an eyebrow. "I can't go outside anymore so we're going to have to wait until tonight before we can do anything. Why do we have to move?"

"We were attacked by Heartless. Quite a few of them, in fact." Roxas scowled as he continued. "Riku thinks Xemnas has found us."

Axel chuckled, his eyes briefly flashing over Roxas' body as if searching for any wounds. "I see you're still as fond of Silverlocks as ever."

"He's a keyblade master." Roxas' eyes narrowed on Axel, trying to figure out if Axel had already known. Axel's eyebrows raised in surprise though, before realisation hit him.

"So that's the other thing I sensed in him. No wonder the guy feels like he's being torn apart by his power from the inside."

"Torn? His keyblade looks like a freaking sword. I _want_ his power," Roxas grumbled. He still hadn't gotten over the fact that giant _keys_ were the weapons of choice for the good guys. He was even more annoyed now that he knew that keyblades also came in the sword-looking variants.

"Trust me, you don't." Axel sat down on the pile of rugs Roxas had been sitting on. "The power of the keyblade comes from light. The power of Nobodies, although they come in different varieties, comes from darkness. Having both powers inside of you can't be very fun."

Roxas shrugged. "He doesn't seem too bothered by it and I still want his keyblade." He sat up as he remembered the cut Sora had gotten during his fight with the Heartless. "Sora got cut during the attack. You need to take him to the Destiny Islands to clean the wound and bandage it."

Axel groaned, letting himself fall back onto the rugs and closing his eyes. "I'm _tired_." His eyes opened again and he looked up at Roxas with a strange look in his eyes. "Did you get hurt?"

"What do you care?" Roxas glared down at the redhead, his tone sounding resentful. "Sora was the one who got hurt so go help him."

Axel stared at him thoughtfully for a moment before pouting, one arm coming up to his forehead as he spoke in an overdramatic manner. "But _Roxy_, I wanna _sleep_." His eyes became half-lidded in that suggestive way and Roxas could feel the by now familiar shiver run down his spine. "Come sleep with me?"

Roxas punched the redhead, purposefully hitting the red, irritated skin. Afterwards he cursed himself as he hadn't even managed to ignore Axel for more than five minutes. Axel hissed, his hand flying up to grab at the spot. "Roxas!"

Roxas huffed, crossing his arms as he glared down at the redhead once more. The fact that his lips were almost twitching up into a smile made the look seem less than intimidating. "Go."

Axel pouted once more but stood up nonetheless. "Fine, but you owe me for making me go outside again while the sun is out." He smirked over his shoulder as he walked away. "And I always collect my debts."

Another shiver ran down Roxas' spine as he watched Axel walk away; the strongest one yet. He shook his head as Axel walked up the stairs, trying to clear his mind of a sudden, very vivid image of what exactly Axel was going to ask in return. He did _not_ enjoy Axel's idiocy. He did _not_ like being chased after constantly. He did _not_ want Axel to continue trying to get him into bed. And he did _not_, without a shadow of a doubt, like Axel. He plainly refused to believe he could ever fall for a guy that literally couldn't care about him beyond how good he might be in bed.

Roxas sighed, pushing himself up from the pile of rugs and followed Axel upstairs. He might as well tag along to the Destiny Islands so Axel wouldn't have to come and pick him up again later when they moved to a different hideout. It wasn't that he cared about Axel's well-being, but this was just more efficient. Plus, he didn't much like the idea of staying behind on his own in case Xemnas — or Riku — sent another wave of Heartless to attack.

As he entered the room Sora spent most of his time in, he almost bumped into Axel. He raised an eyebrow at the amused expression on the redhead's face and looked further into the room. A smile forced its way onto his face as he saw Sora lying on the balcony, curled up around himself. When Sora was like this, even Roxas found it hard to believe the brunet had managed to beat Larxene, and he underestimated his brother a lot less than most other people did. He knew perfectly well what Sora could be capable of if he was pushed far enough.

"Try not to wake him up. He's looked tired for days now." Roxas walked forward, checking if the arm with the cut on it hadn't fallen onto the ground. The odds that the cut would get infected were probably pretty high already. There was no need to make those odds even better.

As he stood over the brunet, his eye fell on a tiny vial standing on the balcony with him. Roxas frowned as he picked it up.

"That debt just keeps growing and growing," Axel grinned. "Imagine what you'll have to do to pay me back."

Roxas glared at the redhead over his shoulder. "Shut up or I'll stay here and you'll have to come and pick me up while the sun is out. Let's see how you feel when your entire body turns red." Axel pouted, but the suggestive glint never left his eyes. In his mind, the debt was still there and he'd come to collect later. Roxas forced himself to roll his eyes instead of punching Axel again and held up the vial. "Any idea what this is?"

Axel's eyebrows rose in surprise at the vial. "It's a Potion; something that helps people to heal faster. It's what Riku gave you after the fight with Larxene. Those things are rare, though. Where did you find it?"

"Right here on the ground." Roxas frowned once more, looking from the vial to Sora and back at the vial. Had Riku come back to give them the Potion? Considering how good the other was at finding information, Roxas wouldn't put it past him to also have ways of getting his hands on rare potions that helped you heal faster. He had apparently already done it once before.

He_ seriously_ didn't trust Riku.

"Does it help heal anything?" Roxas let the clear, green liquid roll around in the bottle, wondering how such a tiny amount would even help. He did remember seeing a vial just like this one back on the Destiny Islands, though, so he assumed he'd gotten a vial just like this.

"Yeah, it got rid of your concussion in no time, didn't it?" Just pour it over the wound and it'll do the rest."

"I guess," Roxas sighed, turning around to Sora. He still had trouble believing in anything magical even though he'd seen more than enough supernatural things to prove its existence.

A smirk formed on his face as he realised Sora would probably wake up if he poured the Potion over the wound, and he had something to tease Sora with now. Why bother trying to keep him asleep now? He was going to have fun with this. "Sora, Riku's come back. He wants to talk to you alone."

Sora's eyes shot open as he sat up, looking around in search of Riku. He frowned in confusion as he only saw Roxas and Axel in the room, looking up at his brother questioningly. Seeing the smirk on Roxas' face, Sora glared half-heartedly at Roxas. "You're mean."

"I know. I just really wanted to prove that you like Riku." Roxas' smirk only widened. "Plus, it's considerably easier to wake you up now."

Sora crossed his arms, wincing slightly as he brushed over the cut on his arm. Roxas' smirk disappeared and he rolled his eyes. "Idiot."

He tossed the vial in his hands over to Sora, the brunet catching it and looking at it curiously. "Hey, this is the stuff that made you better."

"Yeah, lover boy probably came back to bring you some. We found it on the floor next to you."

"Riku came back?" Sora looked up hopefully, tightening his grip on the bottle slightly. Roxas' amused smirk returned and Sora blushed, looking down at his lap and biting his lip.

"We found that vial lying here so I'm not sure. Who else would've gone out of their way to get it, though?" Sora nodded, quickly opening the vial and letting the content spill onto the cut on his arm.

"Not to interrupt or anything," Axel said as he looked out of the window, "but can we go before the sun is up completely? The earlier we go, the less I'll probably get burned when we get out of the damned portal."

"And you call yourself a pyromaniac." Roxas snorted, helping Sora up and grabbing his book again.

"I think you declared me a pyromaniac, actually." Axel waved a hand to open up a portal. "I just said I like watching fire burn things."

"That's exactly what makes you a pyromaniac." Roxas shook his head. "Now come on, I'd like to get some sleep before we go and save the princess tomorrow."

"You found her?" Sora asked, looking at Axel. The redhead nodded. "Where is she?"

"No clue. I only barely sensed her as the sun was coming up so I got out of there before I got burned. We'll see tomorrow."

"A wealth of information as always," Roxas muttered, pushing Sora through the portal. It didn't really matter. They'd found her before Xemnas had and they'd be able to get her out of Arabia now. What exactly they were going to say to her was beyond him, but the point was that they could protect her.

He frowned as he stepped through the portal himself. What were they going to do after they'd gotten her out of Arabia, though?

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><p>"The palace."<p>

"Yep."

"You're kidding me."

"We're going to kidnap a princess?"

Roxas' eyes narrowed on the palace in front of them. "Let's hope it's just one of the servant girls."

"But," Sora frowned, "the princesses are supposed to draw protection towards themselves. Why would a girl like that end up as a servant girl? I doubt those are guarded very well…"

Roxas closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. "We can't kidnap a princess. She _has_ to be a servant girl or we're screwed."

"I think it's the princess." Roxas glared up at Axel as the redhead stared up at one of the windows above, no doubt where he sensed the girl.

"You're just saying that because you know it'll bother me."

"Yeah," Axel grinned, looking back down, "though Sora does have a point. Servant girls aren't exactly the most well-protected people."

"She befriended the princess and now they're best friends," Roxas tried.

"So kidnapping the best friend of the princess is better?" One of Axel's eyebrows rose. Sora bit his lip to keep himself from laughing at the arguing couple. Roxas glared at them both.

"Just shut up and let's go find the damned girl."

Axel's grin didn't leave as he opened up another Dark Corridor, the short distance practically assuring them that they'd actually end up in the room they needed to be in.

The room they ended up in revealed very clearly who they were dealing with. It was decorated beautifully; there was a large and very comfortable-looking bed; and gold jewellery could be seen as well as expensive clothes. Roxas stifled a groan at the sight. This wasn't the room belonging to a servant girl or even the best friend of a princess. This was very obviously the room of the princess herself. _'Fuck.'_

He could see Axel grinning at him from the corner of his eye and Sora biting back laughter. He crossed his arms and glared at both of them, lowering his voice to a mere whisper so they wouldn't wake up the sleeping princess in the bed. "This isn't funny. How are we going to explain this?"

Before an answer could be given, a loud crash could be heard from somewhere inside the palace. Axel's eyes flashed to the door and they narrowed. "Heartless. I think they're fighting the guards."

Roxas cursed softly. "How did they find—" His eyes narrowed as well, "Riku."

Sora shook his head vigorously. "He wouldn't do that!"

"How else did they find her as soon as we did?" Roxas snapped back. "We knew from the very start that we couldn't trust him and that he was probably trying to lure us into a trap. Here's your proof."

Sora continued to shake his head stubbornly, refusing to believe Riku had indeed betrayed them. "It's just a coincidence."

"Sure it is," Roxas said sarcastically. Any further discussion was cut off as they heard the rustling of sheets behind them and the gasp of a girl. They looked at the bed again to see a girl with tan skin and long, black hair looking at them with wide eyes. She said something to them in a panicky voice that no doubt translated into a demand to know who they were and what they were doing in her room.

Roxas opened his mouth to try and explain what was going on, hoping she knew English and could actually understand him, only for no sound to come out. He really didn't have anything to say because they hadn't thought this far ahead yet. His mouth closed again and he looked over at Sora, who was looking at him just as lost.

Axel was the one to speak up in the end, uncaring of what the girl would think of their explanation. They needed to get out of there before the Heartless reached them and they were already very close. The guards were plainly no match for them. "Demons are coming to kidnap you so we're here to do it before they can."

Roxas groaned and slapped his forehead. This wasn't helping.

The girl glared at them, putting her hands in her sides in indignation. Apparently she could understand English just fine. She called out something in Arabic once more, probably calling for some guards to take them away.

The door burst open but instead of guards, a stream of Heartless entered the room. The girl's eyes widened as she stared at the creatures in shock. Roxas partially felt very sorry for her, knowing all too well what seeing Heartless for the first time could do to a person. The other part of him figured they probably wouldn't have as much trouble convincing her to come with them now.

Roxas summoned his keyblades, cursing the fact that the doors to the princess' room were double and _huge_. Any benefit they might've had from the doors limiting the flow of Heartless was completely gone like this. Heartless after Heartless poured into the room and there didn't seem to be an end in sight.

"Axel, get her out of there! They'll stop if she's gone!" he yelled out, glancing over to see that the redhead was busy with his own fair share of Heartless.

"I'm a bit preoccupied myself here!" the redhead called back, fire blazing around him to repel the Heartless. A group of Red Rhapsodies hovered around his head, absorbing the fire without the slightest effort. Fire burst from Axel's hands and the flames solidified into the chakrams Axel had mentioned before, though it was the first time Roxas had actually seen them. With the Red Rhapsodies so close to him and Axel once more being distracted by the presence of a Princess of Heart, he wasn't succeeding too much at killing the annoying, red Heartless.

Roxas spun around to get rid of as many of the Heartless around him as possible, several fading away as the keyblades hit them. He rushed over to Axel, jumping up and hitting the Red Rhapsodies out of the air so Axel had free reign to kill everything else around him with fire.

Axel grinned at him momentarily. "See, we make such a good team." Before Roxas could answer Axel was already rushing over to where the princess was, opening up a Dark Corridor so they could get out of there.

A different Dark Corridor opened up next to the one Axel had, a young man with long silver hair and tan skin stepping out to survey the scene. Axel stopped dead in his tracks, just having grabbed the wrist of the princess to pull her into the portal. His eyes narrowed on the man in front of him, his body tensing. The man merely waved one of his arms and the Heartless backed off. Roxas and Sora turned around to face the man as well, wary after seeing how easily he could control the Heartless. This had to be Xemnas, and that meant they were in a lot of trouble.

"So you're the ones who killed Larxene and freed one of the maidens." A spark of amusement seemed to glint in his eyes, though Roxas didn't see what was so funny. They might not be trained keyblade masters or anything, but they still held the weapons that Xemnas should fear most. Why would he find anything amusing about this situation?

"So what if we are?" he asked, holding his keyblades in front of him to defend against any attacks the man might throw at them. A very dangerous vibe was coming off the man. It was one that demanded everyone back off because they were going to die if they tried to defy him. If they didn't beat Xemnas though, the princesses would never be safe and they would be stuck running from place to place for the rest of their lives. They'd need to get rid of Xemnas sooner or later if they wanted to stop this.

Xemnas smirked at them, "I'm responsible for the deaths of keyblade masters that had been trained to near perfection. You think you can take me, boy? You're not worth my time."

"Try us." Roxas glanced aside to see Sora coming to a standstill right beside him, determination far outshining the fear in his eyes. As he looked back though, Xemnas was looking at them with a bored expression, apparently still not finding them worthy of his time.

"I have a different appointment to keep." A cruel smile formed on his face. "But there's someone who still has something to prove to me, so I'll leave you in his capable hands."

Roxas wanted to call the man a coward in an attempt to make him stay so they could try and beat him. The dangerous vibe coming off Xemnas wouldn't let him though. Deep down he _wanted_ Xemnas to leave and get as far away from them as possible.

He was about to question who exactly would be taking them on if Xemnas himself was leaving when he heard a noise behind him. He turned around to see a large group of Heartless being killed to create a way into the room. Roxas' eyes narrowed as someone walked in, a sword-shaped keyblade in hand.

Next to him, Sora dropped his own keyblade in sheer shock.

Riku's own eyes widened ever so slightly as he saw them. They quickly returned back to their indifferent state as Xemnas spoke again. "I do believe you've already met, but let me introduce you anyway. This is Riku, my son."

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><p><strong>Yes! First cliffhanger of the story! °grins° I'll see you all next week for the continuation of this little confrontation<strong>**. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and please review!**


	12. Something About a Traitor

**Alrighty, I hope everyone's enjoyed their week of waiting for this, and that you'll enjoy reading this even more. I'd once more like to thank all the people who reviewed me. You all rock! R&R guys.  
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><p><em>-<em>**-: 12 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About a Traitor **

"I _knew_ it!" Sora stared as Roxas rushed at Riku, his brother trying his very hardest to pulverise him until there would be nothing left. Sora just felt numb; as if he wasn't really even there anymore. He heard Xemnas laughing somewhere behind him but even the alarm bells that had gone off in his head the minute the man had entered the room weren't registering anymore.

Riku was Xemnas' son.

Roxas had been right about him.

Riku had been luring them into a trap from the very start.

"Now then," he heard vaguely from behind, "I expect them all to be dead by the time you come home with the princess. Here's your chance to prove you weren't betraying me. I have a different appointment to keep."

Riku blocked the blows Roxas threw at him, using a blast of darkness to force Roxas backwards. He looked at his father impassively. "You're not going to take the princess now?"

"No, you'll have to kill all of them if you want to bring the girl, so this way I'll know for sure you're not on their side. If you are on their side, I have a back-up plan already set in motion, so don't think betraying me now will get you anywhere."

Roxas rushed back at Riku, continuing their fight. Sora heard Xemnas laugh behind him, the sound slowly fading away. Xemnas had probably stepped through the Dark Corridor.

He felt a hand being thrust into his own, and looked up numbly to see Axel rushing forward to stop the Heartless that had once more started to pour in. Looking behind him, he saw the princess staring at the scene in frozen shock, her hand in his. He was pretty sure he was supposed to protect her if any Heartless did manage to get by Axel, but he could barely force himself to even look around, let alone fight.

The only thing that continuously ran through his head was the fact that Riku really was their enemy. His mind just wouldn't accept it. Yes, Riku had been very mysterious from the very start, but if he'd honestly wanted to mislead them, why wouldn't he have come up with a better story to tell them? If he'd truly wanted to gain their trust, why not come up with excuses for how he'd gathered all his information? Why hadn't Riku killed them himself already? He could've led an army of Heartless to them ages ago. Why give them Potions that would help them heal faster?

Why would he _help_ them?

"Why?" The sound came out as a whisper, heard by no one as the fighting continued. The hand that would usually hold his keyblade clenched and Sora repeated the question, louder this time. He felt the girl behind him snap out of her own shock and look at him. He let go of her hand, his keyblade appearing in his other as anger started to seep into his voice.

"_Why?_" This time, he saw Roxas glance at him in surprise, halting his attack as it was blocked by Riku. Riku glanced at him as well, his indifferent gaze only showing the barest signs of confusion. Sora glared at him, gripping his keyblade more tightly.

He was the one to rush at Riku this time, slamming his keyblade into Riku's as the other blocked. The indifferent look changed to one of surprise as Sora continued his attack, his anger slowly growing. He was angry at Riku for lying to them; at Roxas for being right; and at himself for even now trying to defend Riku in his mind. If this was what love did to you, love plainly sucked.

He hadn't even noticed he'd been asking "why?" with every few hits he landed, until Riku finally seemed to snap out of his shock, pushing back as their keyblades clashed and pushing them apart. "Why what?"

Sora panted, rushing at Riku once more and trying to hit the other with everything he had. He wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to know. Riku was Xemnas' son so it was obvious why he'd been trying to mislead them. He also knew why he was still trying to come up with an excuse in his head for why Riku was fighting them now. What was it he wanted to know exactly?

Their fight had moved to the, thankfully spacious, balcony when Sora finally managed to hit hard enough to send Riku's keyblade flying. He knew Riku could just summon it back to his hand and he should attack now that there was an opening and Riku was still slightly stunned. He didn't attack though. He just stood there, panting and glaring angrily at Riku.

It only took Riku a moment to recover but he did not summon his keyblade back to his hand. He stood there as well, looking back at Sora cautiously. "Why what, Sora?" he repeated, his voice wary, but oddly gentle.

Sora's hand tightened around his keyblade, still not entirely sure what exactly it was he wanted to know. Instead, all his excuses came out, though even he didn't know whether he wanted Riku to dispute them or not. "Why not just kill us? Why not send an army of Heartless to do it for you? Why help us rescue Kairi?Why leave a Potion for me when I didn't even really need it?" _'Why make me fall for you?'_

He realised with a start that the last question was what he really wanted to know, as illogical and selfish as it was.

"To gain your trust," Riku answered. Sora shook his head violently, resisting the urge to throw his keyblade at the ground in frustration.

"If you'd wanted us dead, you could've killed us the first night when we still didn't have a clue about what was going on! You've had a million chances to kill us if you'd really wanted that!"

"My father—"

"Stop lying!" Sora did throw the keyblade at the ground this time. Riku jumped slightly and took a step back in surprise. He still didn't summon his own keyblade back, though. "Does it really matter, Sora?" he asked, but Sora could hear the hesitation in his voice now.

"It matters," he snapped, continuing to glare at him. If Riku just gave him the explanation he might finally be able to get his mind to believe what was going on. Maybe then he could bring himself to attack Riku again.

Riku simply stood there, arms falling to his sides. "If you're going to attack, attack."

"Just _tell_ me," Sora yelled back, tempted to summon his keyblade back to his hand just so he could throw it down again.

There was a moment of silence broken only by the sounds of the fighting still going on inside. Riku was the first to break the staring contest that had started up, averting his eyes to look down. The impassive look that he'd still been trying to keep on his face disappeared, and an almost lost look replaced it. His voice came out as a mere whisper as he spoke. "It doesn't matter. He said he had a back-up plan so it's pointless to tell you now."

Sora's anger died down slightly as he saw the self-loathing he'd noticed before beneath the lost look. He let his own arms fall to his sides, the keyblade on the ground disappearing completely. Riku looked up as he saw it disappear, expecting it to reappear in Sora's hands, and frowning as it didn't. He stared in confusion as Sora walked over.

Sora stopped in front of him, taking a deep breath before finally letting his frustration get the better of him.

He punched Riku as hard as he could.

The silver-haired teen yelped as he fell to the ground, looking up at Sora with shocked eyes. Sora let his fist fall to his side again, feeling surprisingly better. "Now tell me."

"Heartless are attacking and you want me to tell you what's basically my life's story?" Riku asked in a last ditch effort to distract Sora. Sora crossed his arms stubbornly. "Roxas and Axel can take care of it."

"There are a lot of Heartless—"

"_Now._"

Riku sighed, shaking his head. "I think I suddenly know how you beat Larxene," he muttered, drawing one knee up to his chest. He glanced up and around him for anything else he could say to distract Sora, but was only met with Sora's stubborn gaze. He sighed again, "fine, but if Roxas and Axel die because you're determined to figure me out, it's your own fault."

Silence.

"Riku!" Riku flinched and sighed one last time.

"When the keyblade clan was destroyed, Xemnas knew there would probably be survivors. He tried to track them all down to make sure none of them would ever have a chance to kill him in the future… until he eventually found one that was female." Riku's jaw clenched before he continued. "Instead of killing her, he decided it might be useful to create his very own keyblade master, one that would help him. He kidnapped the woman, killing the rest of her family. That was the last family who had still been actively killing Heartless.

"I have no idea what exactly he did to the woman and I really don't want to know, but not even a year later she had his son." Riku's gaze slowly rose to meet Sora's. "She had me."

Sora stared down in shock, unable to find his voice. Riku smiled at him mirthlessly as he continued. "I was sent to the Destiny Islands together with another Nobody to investigate what exactly was making the Heartless go wild there. The other Nobody, Saïx, took Kairi as soon as we'd found her. He likes taking credit for things so he left me without a word. I was about to leave when I saw you and Roxas, keyblades and all. I've hated my father for a long time so I figured I might be able to use you two to kill him for me. I'm not strong enough on my own. When Axel joined you I almost thought you could pull it off, even more so when you actually came back alive from your fight with Larxene. When Heartless attacked here in Arabia though, I knew my father had found out that something was going on. When I got back he accused me of betraying him and helping you. I said I'd been misleading you and I'd wanted to get rid of you for him. He didn't believe me, so he dragged me along tonight to get the last girl. I think you know the rest."

Sora continued to stare down at him, letting everything sink in before shaking his head. "You're an idiot."

Riku's mouth fell open slightly before he glared up at him. "I tell you what you want to know and you call me an _idiot_?"

"Well, you are." Sora crossed his arms again. "If you'd told us from the very start we would've helped you."

Riku snorted. "Hello guys, I'm the son of the guy who is trying to become all-powerful and immortal. I'm here to help you get rid of him. By the way, since my father is a Nobody, I have problems feeling certain emotions. Please excuse me if I kill someone without caring in the slightest." He looked up pointedly. "Yeah, that would have gone over great."

"You're still an idiot," Sora muttered, finally letting himself relax. A grin worked its way onto his face as he thought about telling Roxas that Riku _was_ on their side.

Wait, Roxas.

His eyes widened as the sounds of the fight inside finally registered again. He bit his lip and looked at the open, balcony doors worriedly. "You wouldn't be able to just order the Heartless away, would you?"

"Now he thinks of what's going on inside." Riku shook his head and sighed, standing up and walking towards the door. "If I get rid of them, Xemnas will know I really have betrayed him. He doesn't bluff when he says he has a back-up plan so expect some consequences." He glanced over his shoulder to see Sora's reaction.

Sora shrugged. "We'll have two of the seven princesses and you." He smiled. "We can take him."

"Doubtful," Riku muttered, but Sora decided to ignore it. They entered the room to see Heartless being killed one after another by a tornado of fire, but no Roxas, Axel, or princess in sight.

"I'm going to assume they're all in the tornado and Axel's exhausting himself by being a show-off," Riku said slowly. "I'm going to go close the Dark Corridor all the Heartless are coming through."

Riku rushed forward, keyblade appearing in his hand as he sliced his way through the many Heartless still around with ease. Sora quickly summoned his keyblade again as well, getting rid of the Heartless that weren't trying to get through the tornado of fire. He had a feeling that if it hadn't been for the princess distracting all the Heartless, he would've been pulverized by the sheer amount of them. As it was, most of them were committing suicide just to try and get trough the tornado.

After a minute Riku returned, cutting down Heartless as he went. Another minute later all the Heartless were gone, leaving Sora and Riku alone with the fiery tornado.

"Uhm, Axel? The Heartless are gone," Sora called. The voice that answered wasn't Axel's though, but Roxas'.

"The idiot is knocked out," Roxas called back, his tone sounding worried more than annoyed despite his words.

"What happened?" Sora asked, looking over at Riku. "And why is that tornado still there if he's unconscious?" Riku shook his head at the questioning look Sora gave him, not knowing the answer either.

"One of the Heartless with the swords managed to knock me down and then a bunch of them attacked me at once. Axel just jumped in front of me out of nowhere, taking all the hits just before this tornado thing suddenly came up around us and killed everything. I have no clue how he's keeping it going while being unconscious though."

Riku hesitated for a moment before raising his arm and letting a Dark Corridor appear.

"What the—" Roxas voice sounded from inside the tornado. Riku looked back at Sora and motioned for him to step into the portal. "He might need some help getting Axel out of there."

"I might also want to tell him about you before he tries to kill you again." Sora scratched the back of his head and Riku shrugged, gripping the keyblade still in his hands a bit tighter. Sora smiled and shook his head. "Definitely tell him about you first."

He stepped through the portal, seeing Roxas knelt next to  
>Axel, who was lying with his head in Roxas' lap. Axel's shirt had been cut up and blood ran down from several wounds on his chest. The princess stood a few steps away from them, looking confused and completely lost.<p>

Roxas looked up at him as he came through the portal. "First tornadoes of fire while he's unconscious, and now those portals too?"

"No." Sora shook his head, biting his lip nervously again. "Riku made it."

Roxas' eyes narrowed. Sora guessed that he would've jumped up if he hadn't been holding Axel. Sora quickly raised his hands and shook his head before Roxas could say anything. "No! He's on our side!"

"He's Xemnas'—"

"I know!" Sora cut in. "But he really is on our side!"

Roxas' eyes flashed angrily, his voice lowering dangerously. "He is Xemnas' son. Xemnas ordered him to kill us. I know you like him but he is our _enemy_."

Sora shook his head stubbornly once again. "I'll explain later, okay? Just trust me on this one."

Roxas stared at him with narrowed eyes for a moment before closing them and nodding grudgingly. "Fine, but I'm blaming you if we die at his hands."

Sora smiled and let out a sigh of relief. He looked down at Axel, noticing the wounds under his ruined shirt. "Is he…?"

"I think he'll be okay." Roxas looked back down, his voice sounding a lot more sure than his expression looked. "He healed after getting hit by Larxene so…"

Sora nodded. "We'll need to get him somewhere safe though." He looked up at the confused girl still staring at them in bewilderment. She looked back at him as she noticed his gaze.

"Are you finally going to tell me what's going on?" Her English was heavily accented, but Sora was just happy that she could speak it in the first place. If she'd only spoken Arabic… well, that would've complicated things quite a bit.

"It's a complicated story…" He trailed off. "It comes down to the fact that your life is in danger."

"I'd guessed as much." The girl looked back down at Roxas and Axel. "Is he really going to be okay?"

"He better be," Roxas muttered. "I'll kill him if he dies on me."

"And I'm being accused of liking someone too much," Sora muttered softly, making sure Riku wouldn't hear on the other side but Roxas would. Roxas glanced up at him in annoyance, his eyes showing the defiance Roxas always had towards anything out of his control, but his arms subconsciously folding around Axel's head protectively. Sora had a feeling that Roxas was no longer quite as clueless about his feelings as he had been the day before when he'd brought it up.

He smiled and walked over. "Come on, let's get him out of here and let Riku point us somewhere safe."

"Yes, let's let the guy who's been misleading us this entire time mislead us some more." Roxas rolled his eyes. Sora ignored the comment this time, helping Roxas lift Axel off the ground instead. He looked back at the princess as Roxas walked through the portal first. "Uhm, we're supposed to protect you so…"

The girl gave him a wary look before nodding slowly. "I don't suppose I have much of a choice. The guards apparently didn't stand a chance against whatever those things were." A small smile broke through on her face. "Besides, I've always wanted to go outside of the palace. Father just never lets me."

As they stepped through the portal — the princess a lot more warily than Sora — Sora was met with the sight of Roxas trying to kill Riku by merely looking at him, while Riku just ignored the blond. Sora sighed and shook his head. "So, where are we going?"

Roxas temporarily stopped the one-sided glaring contest to look back at him. "We should probably go check on Kairi. We can hide in the tunnels as well until this idiot wakes up." He glanced down, eyes tracing several of the cuts on Axel's chest and the blood that still seeped from them. "I think we might want to bandage him anyway."

Sora nodded and looked back at Riku. Riku nodded silently and focussed for a moment, his arm rising yet again to open a Dark Corridor. He grimaced slightly. "It's as close as it's going to get, I think. We'll either have to walk through the town for a while or I'll have to open up another corridor if people are out."

"And how do we know this won't land us in a tra—"

"Roxas!"

Roxas didn't finish his sentence, but continued to glare at Riku. Riku stared back at him, his face devoid of emotions once more. Sora sighed and started to walk towards the portal. "Fine, I'll go first, then."

As he stepped through the portal, he could feel Roxas resisting, unwilling to come along. He sighed and shook his head, practically pulling Roxas through the portal.

This was going to be a long explanation.

* * *

><p><strong>There, I hope that was to everyone's satisfaction. If it isn't, too bad. <strong>**I do like it so there. °grins°**

**Also, to prevent anyone from commenting on this, I know Jasmine's English is rather good. I would've tried to make it a bit more broken, except I would've clawed out my eyes doing it. I can be a bit of a grammer nazi at times and purposefully making grammatical errors would kill me. Just humour me and leave it alone.**

**I hope you're alls till enjoying the fanfics and I'll see you all next week. Review guys!**


	13. Something About a Way

**Alrighty, let the next part of the story begin! So this chapter introduces a new character and I was **_**not**_** looking forward to writing him. I kinda figured I'd fuck over his character, but so far people have told me I did just fine, so yeah. Hope you all enjoy and R&R guys!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><em>-<em>**-: 13 :-**_-_**  
><strong>**Something About a Way **

Sora wanted to smile, he really did.

He'd found out what had happened to Riku. They had managed to save another princess. Riku was now part of their team — which meant Xemnas had lost one of his presumably strongest fighters — none of them had died — even if Axel was still knocked out and didn't seem like he would wake up any time soon — and they were nearly back with Kairi.

Sora really should be smiling.

Sadly, Roxas' murderous look and Riku's stiff posture were really getting to him. None of them had said a word since they'd left for Twilight Town, and although that had only been about a minute ago thanks to the Dark Corridor Riku had created, the silence was so oppressive that it seemed more like it had been at least an hour.

It was killing the happy mood he really should be in right now, and annoying him to no end. Roxas really needed to learn to trust people, and Riku needed to stop expecting Roxas to attack him at any moment. At this rate he was going to summon his keyblade just so he could throw it at the ground again. Mystical weapon or not, it was very satisfying to throw it at the ground when he was frustrated.

As they entered the maze of tunnels Kairi was hiding in, Riku paused, frowned, then shook his head and kept walking. This was not the first time he'd done this. Ever since they'd entered Twilight Town, Riku had been doing this every once in a while. Sora had just started to wonder if Riku might be having second thoughts about betraying his father, when Riku spoke up, his voice sounding doubtful. "You didn't take her somewhere else, did you?"

"Of course not," Roxas bit out. "_We_ wouldn't lie about something important like that."

Riku let the indirect insult slide, instead turning around with the usual, blank look on his face. "I can't sense her anywhere."

"You don't think someone from town found her, do you?" Sora turned towards Roxas, biting his lip worriedly. "If they did, she wouldn't have been able to explain what's been going on…"

Before Roxas could answer, although Sora doubted he'd have had a good answer even if he had been given the chance, Riku shook his head once more. "I haven't been able to sense her since we entered Twilight Town. I'm not as sensitive to hearts as Axel, but I should still be able to—"

Sora looked back at Riku curiously as the silver-haired teen cut himself off. The look of horror-filled realisation was far from what he would have liked to have seen. "What?"

"He said it didn't matter if I didn't bring Jasmine to him," Riku whispered. "He already had her."

Roxas' eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

As if flicking an emotional switch off, the worry on Riku's face melted away, and was replaced by a calm, but serious expression. "Xemnas doesn't bluff. Before he left me to fight you two, he said it wouldn't matter whether I brought him Jasmine or not. I found it strange back then because she was the second-last princess he needed, but—"

"He knew where Kairi was," Roxas growled, glare intensifying, "You told him, didn't you?"

This time, Riku did not let the accusation slide, and he looked back at Roxas with narrowed eyes. His temper, unlike Roxas', was a calm and controlled kind of anger though. "If I'd known Xemnas had taken Kairi, and I'd really been betraying you all this time, I wouldn't have bothered switching sides again. I could've just taken Jasmine and given her to Xemnas, and you wouldn't have been able to stop me."

And a new argument ensued.

As Roxas put Axel down on the ground — a bit rougher than the redhead would've probably liked — and started loudly accusing Riku of being a traitor, Sora stared wide-eyed into the tunnel where Kairi should've been waiting for them. He was trying very hard not to panic at the thought of Kairi being in Xemnas' hands once more, but the memories of how they'd found her last time weren't making it easy.

There was a soft tap on his shoulder and he turned around numbly to see Jasmine standing there, looking completely confused and lost as to what was going on. There was a brief flash of anger inside of him as he asked himself why Jasmine had been the one they'd managed to save instead of Kairi, but the guilt at aiming his frustration at someone who had followed them blindly and without understanding what was going on, quickly made it disappear.

Jasmine smiled nervously as she glanced at Roxas and Riku, then back at him. "Can I ask what's going on yet?"

Sora took a calming breath. Alright then, Roxas was too much in need of anger management, Riku was too closed off and stuck in his past, and Jasmine had a right to get some answers.

Who would've ever thought he'd be the person taking charge?

"Guys!" Roxas glanced over at him, annoyed at being interrupted mid-rant. Riku looked both annoyed and surprised, obviously still getting used to the idea of Sora having a backbone.

"What?" both asked almost simultaneously, throwing glares at each other at the timing. Sora sighed.

"We're not going to get anywhere fighting. It's not going to stop Xemnas, it's not going to get Kairi back, and it's not going to help us figure out what happened." Neither Roxas, nor Riku contradicted him. Neither seemed very happy about it either. Sora would've usually cowered under both their looks, but this really wasn't the time. Unless Riku had a chance to explain why he'd been using them, Roxas wasn't going to trust him. They needed Riku if they wanted to find out how they could get Kairi back, and how they could beat Xemnas. Jasmine, being the person Xemnas wanted to get more than anything right now, really needed to be told what was going on. The fighting needed to stop and it needed to stop _now_.

Roxas crossed his arms and, with obvious effort tried not to snap as he spoke. "Fine, but I want to know why you trust _him_ so much when he tried to attack us about half an hour ago."

Riku's posture tensed again, not particularly happy to have to explain himself again. Plus, he knew as well as Sora did by this point that Roxas tended to be a lot more difficult about things. Technically speaking Riku could still be a spy for Xemnas. That might not make a lot of sense as he could've taken Jasmine away from them several times already, but no doubt Roxas would think of it together with several other possibilities. Sora couldn't really blame Riku for tensing.

Sora glanced back at the entrance of the tunnels to make sure they were far enough away from it for no one to see or hear them. He then sat down and forced a smile. "I think Jasmine deserves some answers first."

Roxas glanced at the raven-haired Princess as if only now remembering she was there. He looked down at the ground after realising they'd dragged her away from her home without telling her anything, his voice carrying a guilty quality to it. "Right, sorry."

Jasmine's nervous smile turned into a genuine one as she shrugged. "It is fine. You saved my life, after all. I would just like to know what exactly you saved me from…" Her expression turned nervous again as she thought about what had happened before. She, Roxas and Riku sat down as well, Riku's posture considerably less tense now that they weren't going to start with his life story.

And so began the rather lengthy explanation, starting with Riku once again explaining everything about Kingdom Hearts, the Keyblade clan, the Princesses of Heart, and Xemnas. Afterwards Roxas and Sora explained what had happened to them and Kairi, who Axel was, and how they'd found her. Lastly, Riku had to explain who exactly he was, and why he'd been helping-slash-using them up until now.

Seeing Roxas' mouth already opening to argue why they still couldn't trust Riku as the silver-haired teen finished his story, Sora kicked at his brother's legs and cut him off. "He's had more than enough chances to grab Jasmine and get away from us. He's not tricking us."

Roxas closed his mouth, glaring at Riku suspiciously before grudgingly looking away. "Fine, but if he gets us killed in his little scheme to get rid of his father, I'm still blaming you."

Riku rolled his eyes. "I'd actually like to see everyone survive this."

"Right, like you care." Roxas paused before frowning. "Can you even care?"

"Yes, I can feel any emotion you can." The blank look on Riku's face was rather contradictory to his answer, and even Sora looked a little doubtful. Riku sighed. "I can choose not to feel anything. It's like a switch in my mind that I can turn off and on. I have a tendency of leaving it off because Xemnas drilled it into my head that emotions will only make you weak." Riku glanced over at Sora and he gave him an amused smile. "Though I've been told that's stupid."

Sora grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Well it is."

Roxas glanced back and forth between them before deciding to let it go without asking. "Well, if you want to get rid of your daddy so badly, I guess you'll have no problems telling us where he's most likely holding Kairi so we can save her again."

Riku hesitated before shaking his head. "He'll be keeping her close to him this time. He only has Saïx and one other Nobody, Xaldin, to help him guard the princesses now. He had another Nobody to help him, but he…" Riku seemed to be looking for words for a second, "decided it was in his best interest to leave before you two came to pay him a visit."

"He left because he was scared of us?" Sora blinked. "Why?"

"You killed Larxene. Vexen, the Nobody that left, isn't much of a fighter. He enjoys researching things and I happen to be one of his favourite test subjects. He finds me endlessly fascinating, being born from a Keyblade Master and a Nobody." Riku shook his head. "Honestly, if you'd gone after the princess he was guarding, he would've probably just let you pass without a fight. He'd probably have been far too busy with some experiment."

"Wonderful, and we couldn't have gotten him when we went to save Kairi last time because…?" Roxas grumbled.

"Because Xemnas isn't an idiot," Riku stated simply. "He knew Vexen wasn't one to pay a lot of attention to the princess he was guarding. Any princess he finds, first spends some time with either Larxene or Xaldin. Larxene was plainly cruel, and scared the princesses into submission. Xaldin is a master at manipulating people, and breaks his victims like that. Once their spirit is broken, the princesses don't try to escape anymore."

"So wouldn't Kairi be with that Xaldin guy, then?" Sora asked.

Riku shook his head. "I doubt it. He knows you'll come for her so as long as she's with him, he won't even have to come and look for you. He's more than capable of scaring Kairi enough himself."

"It doesn't matter if Kairi's being held close to Xemnas now. We still have to go and save her," Roxas cut in.

Sora frowned. "Yeah, but we barely survived beating one Nobody. There's no way we can take on three at once."

"We can't just leave her there," Roxas countered. "Besides, we've got your little boyfriend to help us this time."

Sora tried very hard to ignore Roxas calling Riku his boyfriend, as well as the heat that rose to his cheeks as Riku frowned in confusion. "Riku's already said that he can't take out Xemnas on his own. Plus, we have to keep Jasmine safe as well."

Roxas glanced at the girl watching them argue, a distracted look on her face as she no doubt tried to process everything she'd been told so far. "We can find her a safe place to hide."

"Xemnas will be looking for her. You can't leave her alone," Riku cut in.

"It's still better than taking her with us and practically handing her over to Xemnas." Roxas shook his head. "We don't have time to get stronger so we can protect her. We have to go and get Kairi."

"Isn't there a way for us to get stronger?" Sora looked back at Riku pleadingly. He wanted to go and save Kairi, he really did. However, he could still remember Roxas being unconscious for quite some time after their fight with Larxene. He also knew they'd won that fight only because Larxene had been overconfident and had underestimated them. If they tried to get to Kairi now, with three powerful Nobodies that probably weren't so overconfident guarding her… Sora didn't really want to know how they'd all end up then.

Riku seemed to consider him for a moment before answering, "There is, but the odds of it working are…" he glanced back and forth between Sora and Roxas, "not that great."

"We could've gotten stronger and you didn't mention it to us?" Roxas glared at Riku, his old suspicions returning.

"It's not exactly safe in your conditions," Riku answered calmly. "Neither of you were properly trained to do this."

Sora frowned. "So you need training before you can get stronger really fast…?" That seemed more than a little contradictory.

Riku sighed, running a hand through his hair and probably reminding himself not for the first time that they'd grown up not knowing a thing about keyblades or anything that came with them. "You can get stronger without the training it just becomes more dangerous that way. Normally, a keyblade wielder would undergo years of training before even considering to attempt this."

Riku held his hand out, his keyblade appearing in it. Roxas instantly tensed, eyeing the weapon warily. Riku ignored the wary look and simply held the keyblade up. "Haven't you ever wondered why my keyblade looks different from yours?"

"More than I probably should've," Roxas mumbled. Sora simply shrugged. He hadn't actually thought about it at all. Roxas was the one who obsessed over the fact that they were fighting with giant keys. He _still_ thought they were cool.

The sword-shaped keyblade disappeared again, and Riku sat back as he continued, "Originally, keyblade wielders went through years of training to learn how to control the darkness that lurks in everyone's heart, and how to never give in to their dark impulses. Only after they'd been deemed ready, they underwent a test to become actual Keyblade Masters. I've already told you that keyblades reflect some of the wielder's talents. If you'd pass this test, it would also reflect your personality or whatever's deep inside your heart."

"So," Sora started slowly, "if we passed this test…"

"We'd get new keyblades, which would give us a power boost," Roxas finished in a deadpan. "I hate video games."

Riku shook his head. "Passing the test isn't quite as easy as it sounds. To do the test you're brought into a trance of sorts. If you give into the darkness in your heart, you'll never wake up from that trance."

"How hard can it be?" Roxas snorted. "You made it and your heart isn't exactly the brightest around. Not to mention that using people without any regard for their safety isn't what I'd call, 'not giving into the dark impulses in your heart'."

"I never actually took the test." Riku leaned back on his elbows thoughtfully. "Xemnas made Vexen come up with some potion that would unlock the power without me having to do the test. Xemnas wasn't exactly interested in making me control any kind of dark impulses."

"I don't suppose that Vexen guy would make that stuff for us as well, huh?" Sora sighed.

"Oh, he would as long as he has the right incentive." Riku glanced over at Roxas and then at the still unconscious Axel. "I can persuade him to help us probably, but that potion wouldn't work for you two. It actually increases any darkness in your heart. Unless you don't mind turning into uncaring, killing machines, I wouldn't try it."

"Wonderful, test it is, then." Roxas sighed. "How do we get into that trance?"

"Well, that's where Vexen comes back in. You go into the trance after taking a potion. I have a feeling Vexen will have figured out how to make it in case it turned out to be the only way for me to get a better keyblade." Riku's eyes shifted back to Roxas and Axel as he frowned. "I just hope I can persuade him to help. He started complaining when I asked for those Potions before."

"Why do you keep looking over at me when you say that?" Roxas' eyes narrowed. Riku simply smiled without saying a word. Even Sora had to admit that at that very moment, Riku actually looked quite creepy.

* * *

><p>Plants, flowers, trees, grass… Sora could be wrong, but he could've sworn the Realm of Darkness had been devoid of all these things the last time he'd seen it. He could also still remember Riku saying that since there was no sunlight, greenery couldn't even grow even if it tried to.<p>

And yet the house he was looking at right now was surrounded by a neatly kept lawn, a variety of trees, rosebushes, and an array of other flowers. In Sora's opinion, it looked like a garden that could win prizes without any kind of competition. If the oppressing darkness around him hadn't proven that he was in the Realm of Darkness, he might've wondered if they hadn't ended up in the wrong place.

After Roxas had given up on trying to figure out why Riku had been looking at him constantly, they'd finally managed to agree that Jasmine really couldn't come along to the Realm of Darkness. As that was the exact place they needed to go to find Vexen, they'd had to come up with a place for Jasmine to stay. After much, _much_ more arguing, not to mention quite a few protests from Jasmine herself, Riku had finally dragged Jasmine through a Dark Corridor, returning about ten later without her.

When they had asked him where he'd left Jasmine, Riku had simply stated that he'd put her on the North Pole after a few visits to some shops to give her the clothes she'd need to not freeze to death. Apparently it was non-stop day on the North Pole right now, and the Eskimos were a very hospitable people, so it was the safest place right now. No further protesting helped as Riku sat down calmly, his expression entirely blank. As long as the other's emotional switch was turned off, Sora doubted they were going to convince him to get Jasmine back. He really hoped the sudden and extreme change of temperature wouldn't kill the Princess.

After they had given up on trying to convince Riku that there had to be a better place to hide Jasmine, they had followed Riku back to the Realm of Darkness, and to the middle of nowhere. At least the last time they'd been here, they'd gone to a city of sorts. This time there had been nothing but wasteland all around them as they'd stepped out of the portal.

Wasteland, a house, and a garden that looked completely out of place.

Sora glanced at Riku as the other walked by, heading towards the house. "I thought nothing grew here?"

Riku glanced back at him, a spark of amusement in his eyes. "Vexen has a… roommate, of sorts. That roommate has power over nature to a certain extend."

"And he used it to grow a garden in a place like this?" Roxas frowned, looking at the garden in confusion. "Larxene said Xemnas had killed all the Nobodies that opposed him. He can't be too happy about someone deserting him. Doesn't this kind of give away where Vexen's hiding?"

"Completely," Riku agreed easily, "but try telling Marluxia that. He's been hiding away from Xemnas for centuries now, so he's a bit overconfident about his ability to stay out of sight."

As they entered the house, Roxas and Sora couldn't help but stare at all the equipment that was scattered around. If someone had asked them to point out all the things they could actually recognise between all the equipment, bottles, boxes, glasses, and machinery, they would've been done very quickly. The most surprising thing was probably how neat everything looked despite the amount of things in the building. Everywhere they looked, things were neatly labelled, stacked, grouped together, and cleaned. Back in Twilight Town, Sora had often gotten annoyed at how much of a neat freak Roxas could be at times, but he could honestly say that Roxas was nothing compared to the person who kept this place in order.

They entered a room filled with nothing but equipment that all pertained to chemistry in one way or another. A man in a long, white lab coat stood with his back towards them, facing a strange contraption that had several differently-coloured liquids bubbling away in it. The man spoke to them without even turning around, his attention still focused on the burner he was adjusting carefully. "Bribing me with hearts will not work, Riku. I have already told you that I will not be providing you with any further assistance."

Roxas and Sora put Axel down on the ground carefully, both glancing at each other doubtfully at being treated as basically nothing but food. Riku simply chuckled, walking forward to lean up against a table right behind the man. "I doubt you'd want to try and eat their hearts, Vexen. I do believe you left Xemnas to avoid a fight with them."

Vexen's hand paused for a moment before he turned around, shoulder-length, dirty-blond hair swaying behind him slightly as he took in the scene behind him. Green eyes scanned over Roxas and Sora, lingered on Axel for a moment, then focussed on Riku with mild agitation visible. "You brought them here to force me to help you, simply because I no longer wished to meddle in your fight with Xemnas?"

Riku shook his head, the amused smile fading from his features quickly. "No, I brought them here because they need your help."

The agitation disappeared from Vexen's eyes and he turned back to his experiment. "I have already told you that I will not be assisting you any further."

Sora, used to being the 'convincing' one when they were trying to get someone's help, instantly stepped forward to look at Vexen with pleading eyes. "You've already helped us before so please do it again. If we get rid of Xemnas, you won't have to hide from him anymore."

Vexen didn't even turn to face him, the pleading note to Sora's voice completely ignored or unheard. "I would hardly call this hiding. The assistance I provided you with in the past was only so I could keep my eye on Riku. As he has not gone through any significant changes lately, I no longer see any reason to assist any of you."

Riku's voice turned so quiet that Sora was sure he wouldn't have been able to hear what the silver-haired teen was saying if he hadn't been standing right next to him. "The Nobody on the ground threw himself in front of an attack for the blond keyblade wielder. He was knocked out and will probably end up with a couple of scars, and he's not going to like that considering how vain he can be at times. He had absolutely nothing to gain from the action, and did it purely to protect the blond."

Vexen's hands stilled once more. There was a moment of silence before he turned around to face Riku once more, a glint of interest in his eyes. "Nothing at all?"

Riku shook his head, a smug smirk forming on his face. "He's been trying to get into the blond's pants, but sex is hardly something to risk your life for."

Vexen's eyes flashed back to Axel and Roxas. Roxas was looking at them in mild confusion, obviously unable to hear anything Riku was saying. He was still crouched down on the ground, his posture almost protective as he watched Vexen warily. The glint of interest in Vexen's eyes grew, one hand coming up to rub at his chin thoughtfully. "What is it you need, exactly?"

Riku's smirk widened in triumph. "They need to pass the Mark of Mastery test."

Vexen's eyes shot back to Riku, a frown forming on his face. "And you think I can enable them to do so?"

"Yes," Riku said simply. The two stared at each other for a long moment before Vexen spoke again. "When we spoke before, you said they would likely fall at Larxene's hands. I have already given you two Potions to prevent their deaths. You expect them to pass the Mark of Mastery?"

Riku's eyes flashed from Sora to Roxas and back to Vexen, his face turning indifferent as he spoke. Sora had the distinct impression that the indifferent look was only there to hide any doubt that would otherwise show itself. "They say they can, so let them try. If they do make it, it'll just give you more information on how a true Mark of Mastery works. I believe you were disappointed when Xemnas insisted I cheat my way through it."

Vexen's eyes went back to watching Roxas and Axel, Roxas by now glaring back in annoyance. Vexen turned back to his equipment, busying himself with turning off the burners. "I will need a day to prepare the potion you need. Come back tomorrow before you attract every Heartless around." He glanced momentarily at Riku. "I expect you to tell me everything you know, and you had better not be deceiving me."

His temper finally getting to him, Roxas stood up and walked over. "Is he going to help or what?"

Sora, although he was thoroughly confused himself by the conversation that had been going on, simply grinned happily. "He is. We have to come back tomorrow, though."

"And Axel?"

Vexen glanced back at them at the question. "Is there something wrong with him?"

Roxas' eyebrow twitched. "He's unconscious and hasn't woken up in over an hour."

Vexen gave him a look that clearly stated he thought Roxas was very slow on the uptake, and not the brightest bulb in the box. "He has been conscious this entire time. Other than the wounds on his chest, which have already healed almost completely, there is nothing wrong with him."

Even Riku seemed surprised at the news. They turned to look at Axel, Roxas turning around very slowly as his anger sparked. Axel was looking back at them, leaning back on his elbows and a sheepish look on his face. "Hi guys."

Roxas' fists clenched as he glared at the redhead. "How long have you been awake?"

Axel scratched the back of his head nervously at the dark look Roxas sent his way. "Since before we left Arabia." he laughed nervously before looking up at Vexen. "You could've just said I was still unconscious, you know. I was enjoying all the attention Roxas was giving me."

"I am far more interested in how the two of you interact with each other while you are conscious. Also, the last time I helped you, my laboratory exploded."

"You know Axel?" Riku frowned.

"We met after I just became a Nobody. He's the one who told me most of the stuff I know about Heartless, Nobodies, and the Keyblade clan." Axel grinned.

"Together with his lack of knowledge on almost everything, he also had a lack of control over his powers," Vexen continued, annoyance clear in his eyes. "He set my laboratory on fire and when the fire came into contact with my chemicals, it exploded."

Axel chuckled again, looking as if he was thinking of the 'good old times', before his gaze was drawn back to Roxas. The blond had an almost visible aura of anger around him and Axel's chuckle quickly turned into a nervous one. "Roxy?"

Roxas' eyebrow twitched once again, the aura of anger only growing darker. "Start running."

Not one second later, keyblades were flying at Axel's head. To Axel's great dismay, Roxas could now simply summon them back whenever he missed, making it quite a bit harder to keep dodging them. Vexen's eyes widened in horror as the two ran out of the room, leaving a path of destruction behind in their wake.

Sora bit his lip, torn between laughing at Roxas' reaction, and horror at seeing several pieces of equipment broken to pieces. "Uhm… We can make it two days…"

Riku nodded his head, quickly agreeing with Sora. "I think two days will be fine."

Riku grabbed his hand and quickly dragged him out of the lab, not giving Vexen any time to reconsider their request. As Sora threw a quick glance back at the destroyed room, he could see a horror-struck Vexen still staring at his destroyed equipment, completely frozen in shock. He made a mental note to at least force Roxas to apologise when they returned in two days. Hopefully, this wouldn't stop Vexen from helping them.

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><p><strong>There<strong>**, done! Now I can start not looking forward to writing Marluxia v.v I'm having so much fun with this story.**

**Anyway, I hope you're all still enjoying the fanfic because as you can see, it still has quite a ways to go. See you all next week and review folks!**


	14. Something About a Preparation

**Sorry guys, no Mark of Mastery yet, but I think you'll all enjoy the chapter anyway. Also, I'm running out of pre-written chapters… damn. x.x I really need to get a move on with writing this story. Anyway, R&R guys.  
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><p><em>-<em>**-: 14 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About a Preparation **

Roxas' eyebrow twitched.

Sora smiled.

Roxas glared in an attempt to make Sora stop smiling.

Sora bit his lip to stop himself from laughing.

"Stop smiling at me like that. He made you carry him around too so why aren't you angry?" Roxas snapped. Although he was happy that Sora no longer cowered in fear whenever someone glared at him or said something mean, he really wished the brunet would still _stop freaking smiling_ right now.

Sora, no longer capable of containing his amusement, simply grinned at Roxas. "I can't help it. I've never seen you falling for someone and it's just so funny."

Roxas grit his teeth, his glare growing darker. "I am _not_ falling for that idiot."

"You were more worried about him than any of us," Sora pointed out, still smiling in that annoyingly knowing way.

"He saved me from getting hit by those stupid Bandits," Roxas retorted, crossing his arms. Sora just continued to smile at him, the amusement visible on his face growing if possible.

Roxas' eyebrow twitched once again before he stubbornly looked out of the window. They were back on the Destiny Islands again, waiting until they could go back to Vexen. Roxas had decided that if he didn't want this place to look like Vexen's lab by the end of the night, he should probably stay the hell away from Axel for the time being. To this end, he'd locked himself in the bedroom he and Sora used, and had intended to try and calm down before he wrecked something.

Naturally, his plans had been cancelled. Sora had walked in with that _annoying_ smile on his face. According to Sora, chasing after Axel while trying to _murder_ him with his keyblades only proved that he did like the redhead.

Fine, so he'd been worried about Axel. Was it wrong to worry about a guy who had saved you from being impaled by swords? And granted, he'd been a little protective of Axel. Wasn't that normal when someone was unconscious? Axel had taken care of him while he was unconscious — even _if_ Roxas suspected that more had happened at the time — so why wouldn't he return the favour?

Honestly, what would be the point in liking someone like Axel anyway? Aside from being incredibly annoying, Axel _couldn't care_. All the redhead wanted was to get into his pants. After that he'd get bored and leave.

"He did save you, you know," Sora spoke up, almost as if reading his mind. Roxas glanced back at him, slightly disturbed as usual that Sora knew him well enough to know where his train of thoughts had been going. Not that this was the first time that had happened — far from it — but he just preferred keeping people out of his head.

"So what?"

Sora shrugged, frowning slightly as he continued. "It's just something Riku said to persuade Vexen to help us. He said Axel saved you even though he knew he'd get hurt. Nobodies aren't supposed to care enough about someone to do that. After Riku had said that, Vexen suddenly wanted to help us."

"He's still trying to get me into bed," Roxas pointed out. "If I'd died, he couldn't have done that anymore."

Sora shook his head. "I don't think Axel would have a problem finding someone else."

"I repeat, so what?" Roxas frowned.

"So, he has to care." Sora grinned.

Roxas stared at his brother for a moment, trying to find the flaw in that logic. There had to be something wrong with that train of thought. Nobodies didn't care. Axel and Riku had both said that. So why couldn't he find the flaw in Sora's reasoning…?

Before he could start giving himself a headache with the paradox, Riku entered the room cautiously, no doubt on the lookout for flying keyblades. When he saw Roxas staring blankly at Sora as Sora smiled back, he paused and raised an eyebrow. "How in the world did you calm him down?"

Sora glanced over at Riku, his grin growing larger. "By using logic."

For a moment Riku stared at Sora just as blankly as Roxas was doing. Then he shook his head, the confusion once again returning to his face. "Still a mystery."

Roxas glanced at him, trying to shake his own confusion as best he could. "What do you want?"

The moment Riku's gaze turned towards him, the other's expression became completely neutral once more. If Roxas hadn't still been so wary of Riku, he would've actually found it funny how much of an impact Sora had on him. One smile from Sora and he could practically see Riku melt. For a guy who had basically said Sora wasn't good for anything but hiding behind other people, Riku was letting Sora get to him quite a bit.

"Since we have to wait until Vexen is done making the potion you two need, I figured I could try and go through some of the training you two have missed out on."

"You're going to train us?" both Roxas and Sora voiced at the same time, though with entirely different inflections. Roxas had said it in a deadpan, doubtful Riku could teach them that much. Sora had said it curiously, a note of excitement already entering his voice.

"Yes, I am," Riku replied, staring back at Roxas unwaveringly. "I may not know every little detail of how things were in the time of the Keyblade clan, but I still know more than you two do."

"But we can already summon our keyblades and everything." Sora tilted his head in confusion. "What else do we have to learn?"

"Some general knowledge wouldn't hurt." Riku shrugged. "Plus, the keyblades are your weapons. Haven't you been wondering what you can do with your element?"

"We have an element?" Roxas sat up, suddenly very interested. "Please let mine be water. I'll do _anything_ if I can be water."

A very brief smile crossed Riku's face before his features became neutral again. "No, you both have light as an element. I'm sure you could still hurt Axel with it considerably, though."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Roxas jumped up from the bed and walked over to where Riku was standing, suddenly very eager to learn. He ignored the amused look that passed between Sora and Riku, far too keen on learning how to use his element so he could come up with some new ways to get rid of Axel.

Not that his mind was constantly on Axel or anything.

"I doubt either of you is going to actually trigger your element, but in case one of you does I suggest we go outside."

Roxas' eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Why wouldn't we be able to learn how to use our element?" He started to follow Riku outside, already determined to prove the other wrong. As they passed through the common room, he was more than a little happy to see that Axel was nowhere in sight. The fact that he could hear sound from the kitchen probably should've worried him, but right now he just really didn't want to get anywhere near the redhead.

"Because in the days of the Keyblade clan, it used to take more than just two days to learn this." Riku looked back at them thoughtfully for a moment before continuing, "Though to be fair, elemental control was taught to them at a very young age, and generally even before they could summon their keyblade. Since you two are older and you can summon your keyblades, it shouldn't take you quite as long as it took them."

"I'm so glad you think we're better than children," Roxas muttered sarcastically. Riku ignored the comment, stopping a little ways away from the camp in the area they'd played Struggle in.

Riku turned to face them, his expression thoughtful as he considered how best to explain everything to them. "First, I've already told you how to summon your keyblades. However, I assume neither of you consciously thinks about protecting each other anymore when you summon it. It should have become much easier by now, and more of an instinctive reaction."

Roxas and Sora glanced at each other for a moment. Neither of them had given it any thought, but Riku was right. At first they'd consciously needed to think about protecting one another to summon their keyblades. By now though, all they had to do was will the keyblades to appear and they would. Neither of them could even remember when the change had occurred, but Riku was most definitely right.

Seeing the looks of surprise turning to looks of realisation, Riku continued, "The weapons keyblade wielders and Nobodies use are directly connected to their element. That's why, when they're summoned, the wielder's element also shows itself. Your keyblades glow slightly when they appear; Axel's chakrams appear from fire; and so on."

"So what does this have to do with teaching us how to use our element?" Roxas crossed his arms impatiently. He wasn't too interested in the details of how their weapons worked.

"It has everything to do with it," Riku replied calmly. "You summon your keyblades with your element; that's why they glow when you summon them. To learn how to use your element, you need to know where to find it first. Figure out how exactly you summon your keyblades and you'll know where to look for your elemental magic."

"So we just have to keep summoning our keyblades until we know where the magic comes from?" Sora asked. Roxas completely agreed with the disappointed look on his brother's face. He'd been looking forward to being able to control his element and use it like Axel could use his fire and Riku could use those balls of dark energy. The idea of just standing around, summoning their keyblades, was beyond dull in comparison.

"You need to know where the magic comes from before you can use it." Riku shrugged. "After you know where to find the magic we can try and bring it out."

"If this is somehow a joke, I'm not laughing," Roxas grumbled, reluctantly uncrossing his arms.

Riku shook his head, an involuntary, amused smile tugging at his lips. "You should be happy you can do this by summoning your keyblades over and over. In the old days, children had to meditate because they hadn't learned how to summon their keyblade yet. This is much easier."

Roxas and Sora gave each other a look, both still a little doubtful this was going to really help them. Sora was the first to decide to just go with it as he sat down on the ground, and started to summon his keyblade with a focussed look on his face.

Roxas watched him for a moment, glancing up at Riku to make sure the silver-haired teen wasn't silently laughing at Sora already, before letting out a sigh and sitting down on the ground as well. He might as well get comfortable while doing this.

As he sat there, summoning his keyblades over and over until he'd lost count of how many times, his mind couldn't help but wander a little. He knew he should be focussing on figuring out where his elemental magic was coming from, but it was just so boring to continuously summon his keyblades. He just couldn't help it. Naturally – and to his great annoyance – his mind went back to the conversation he'd had with Sora before Riku had interrupted him. He still hadn't come up with anything that could explain why Axel would try and save him.

He shook his head, trying to force himself to pay more attention to his keyblades again. This wasn't the time to try and figure out what Axel did or didn't feel for him.

Or what he might be feeling for Axel.

Roxas' eyebrow twitched at that thought. Ever since Sora had said he actually liked Axel instead of despising him, the thought hadn't left him alone. Even he had to admit, albeit grudgingly, that Axel definitely affected him differently than anyone ever had. Was Sora right and did he enjoy Axel's persistence? Did he _want_ Axel to constantly pursue him?

His brow twitched again.

No, he needed to figure out where his elemental magic was coming from so he could stop summoning his keyblades, not talk himself into liking the perverted, idiotic, and annoying redhead sitting inside.

He focussed back on his keyblades, determined to concentrate on them and nothing else. He was going to master his elemental magic, save Kairi, get rid of Xemnas, and _put Axel out of his mind_.

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><p>It wasn't until two days later, not long before they would go back to Vexen's lab to see if the potions were done, that Roxas grudgingly admitted that, even though figuring out where his elemental magic was coming from was indeed more difficult than he'd first expected, summoning his keyblades so many times had indeed helped.<p>

An hour ago he'd finally been able to clearly feel the flow of magic that sparked whenever his keyblades appeared in his hands. He'd been able to feel a vague sense of the magic for hours already at that point, but it had been the first time it had been so clear.

For the past hour, he'd been trying to sense that flow of magic every time he summoned his keyblades. He'd also tried to keep sensing it after his keyblades were in his hands, but the magic always ebbed away to the point where he couldn't get to it anymore. Frustrating as it might be to feel it slipping away from him every time, he was at the very least happy that he'd found it in the first place.

He knew Sora had found the flow of magic as well. A large grin had appeared on his brother's face about an hour before he himself had found the magic, and Sora had begun to summon his keyblade more rapidly. Roxas wasn't entirely sure how much further Sora had gotten since then, but since he hadn't seen any lightshows yet, he guessed they were both at about the same point.

A tap on his shoulder brought him out of his concentrated trance, and Roxas looked up with a start. Riku was standing next to him, already turning around to snap Sora back to reality as well. "We should go and check if Vexen is done yet. Did you make any progress since yesterday?"

Despite the fact that he'd started to trust Riku slightly more, the tone in Riku's voice that constantly suggested they wouldn't be able to master whatever task he set for them annoyed Roxas to no end. He honestly couldn't understand what Sora saw in the guy. "Yeah, I can feel where the magic comes from when I summon my keyblades."

A surprised look crossed Riku's face and he raised an eyebrow. He glanced over at Sora to see the brunet grinning widely at him. "Same here."

Riku shook his head, muttering something indistinguishable under his breath, before focusing back on them again. "Can you sense the magic when you're not summoning the keyblade as well?"

Sora and Roxas glanced at each before they both shook their head, Sora's grin turning sheepish and Roxas' expression once more showing frustration.

"Well, the fact that you can sense it in the first place is already a step in the right direction. We'll see if we get another chance to try this." Riku turned around, starting to walk back towards the camp. "Come on, let's wake up Axel and go back to Vexen."

"The idiot's asleep?" Roxas got up, stretching as his muscles protested after not having been used for so long. He followed Riku into the building to see Axel lying on the couch, sleeping soundly. He rolled his eyes at the sight. "Lazy as always."

"It's still daytime," Riku pointed out. "This is the time he'd normally sleep too, so this is actually early for him to be woken up. Now, go and wake him up."

Roxas rolled his eyes once more before frowning. "Why didn't you wake him up before you came to get Sora and me?"

"Because Vexen won't help us if I don't come back with something interesting to tell him." At the confused look Roxas gave him, Riku simply smiled mysteriously. "Just do it."

"Fine." Roxas walked over to the couch, more confused than ever by Riku. He paused at the couch for a moment before a mischievous smile pulled at his lips and he kept walking. From the corner of his eye he could see Riku looking at him in confusion, but he simply continued into the kitchen. He returned with a bowl of water, Riku shaking his head in exasperation doing nothing to stop him from standing over the couch and simply tipping the bowl over.

And he hadn't exactly picked a small bowl.

Axel shot up off the couch, eyes wide and water dripping off his body. "What the—"

"Good morning," Roxas' smile widened, "I hope you slept well."

It took a moment for Axel to realise what had happened before his body relaxed and an amused smile worked its way onto his face. "Well, I haven't woken up to a better view in a while." The smile turned into a grin. "And I guess that since my shirt is drenched, I'll just have to go without for a while."

The smug smile on Roxas' face faded very quickly as Axel threw off his shirt, not bothered in the slightest by the way he'd been woken up. On top of that, Axel didn't exactly look bad without a shirt. Roxas was suddenly very happy that he'd be in a trance not too long from now.

He supposed he should be happy that Axel's pants hadn't gotten that wet.

"See something you like?" Axel's grin widened as he watched Roxas slowly taking him in. Roxas crossed his arms and turned away, cursing himself for once again making it so easy for Axel to taunt him. "We need to go to Vexen. Shut up and just come along."

Axel chuckled, standing up from the couch and purposefully standing in Roxas' direct line of vision. "What are we waiting for, then? Come on."

The amused look on Riku's face as they walked by reminded Roxas far too much of Sora's knowing look. He really wished the other would just go back to being a cold-hearted bastard.

The fact that Sora gave him the exact knowing look he'd just been thinking of right after they exited the building only aggravated him more.

The fact that his own mind was slowly starting to acknowledge that he found Axel hot and he sort of, kind of, maybe enjoyed Axel's constant flirting made him want to stab either himself or Axel. Honestly, he didn't really care which one of them died anymore.

As they reached the house Vexen lived in and Roxas was confronted with the damage he'd caused during his last visit, he couldn't help but feel guilty. He'd thought Sora had been exaggerating when he'd told him how much he'd wrecked in his little chase. The sterile environment he could remember so clearly was far from being restored. As Vexen had already had a day to get everything back into order, Roxas didn't want to know how much the damage had been when he'd left two days ago.

As they entered the lab — the only part of the house that had been completely restored to its former state — Roxas was met with a very similar sight to when he'd first come here. Vexen had his back to them and was looking at something in a way that made it seem like he was entirely unaware of what was going on around him.

Unlike last time, it wasn't an experiment Vexen was looking at so intently. There were several folders lying on the table in front of him, symbols Roxas didn't recognise featured on the cover of each of the folders.

The folder Vexen was looking into featured an upside-down heart, the top turning into an oddly-shaped cross. Most of the other folders in front of him were open so Roxas couldn't see if there were any other symbols on them. Only the folder right in front of Vexen was closed, the symbol on it an upside-down version of the symbol on the cover of the folder Vexen was holding.

"If you intend to destroy my laboratory once more, I would prefer for you all to leave."

Roxas grimaced at the comment, looking away and muttering out an apology, "Sorry, I won't try and kill Axel in here anymore."

Vexen turned around, closing the folder in his hands and watching them intently. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of Axel's shirtless state. "Why are you not wearing a shirt?"

"Roxy woke me up with a bowl of water, so now I need to wait for my shirt to dry." Axel smirked and wrapped his arms around Roxas. "Of course now Roxy can't keep his eyes off me so it kinda backfired on him."

Roxas elbowed the redhead behind him to free himself, but Axel simply tightened his grip as usual. Roxas glared at him in annoyance, though even he could tell his reaction wasn't nearly as strong as before. "Will you _let go_?"

"Don't you want to sit in my lap while you do your little test? It'll be more comfortable."

Roxas snorted. "I think your lap might be a bit too hard to get comfortable in." He elbowed the redhead again, this time putting some actual effort into it, and managed to free himself. "Can we just get the test over with?"

Once again he noticed Vexen staring at them intently, the intense gaze making him feel somewhat uncomfortable. After a brief moment, Vexen put the folder in his hands with the others behind him, and walked over to a different table to retrieve two vials. "This will allow you to achieve the trance required for the Mark of Mastery. Simply drink it and let it take effect. During the Mark of Mastery you will not be aware of the fact that it is a test, so do not expect to be able to take advantage of anything Riku might have told you. If you pass the test, you will be able to wake up again. If you let the darkness tempt you, you will forever remain in the trance." Vexen handed both Roxas and Sora a vial each, motioning for them to take a seat on the ground.

Roxas sat down, glancing at Sora next to him to see his own slight hesitance reflected in his brother's eyes. Used to being the confident one, Roxas smiled as he brought the vial to his lips and drank its contents in one go.

The potion itself was fairly tasteless, almost like water. It was, however, ice-cold and he could clearly feel it going down as he swallowed. For a moment nothing happened, and he was about to question if something might have gone wrong, when a sudden wave of fatigue washed over him.

His eyes began to feel heavy and he closed them, slumping against the wall behind him. There was a strange pressure on his mind that made it impossible to think straight, and despite Roxas' attempts at resisting the workings of the potion, he was eventually forced to surrender to the fuzzy feeling that had rapidly begun to take control of his mind.

He vaguely felt something heavy leaning against him, and figured that Sora had also taken the potion. A moment later his mind slipped away entirely, and he wasn't aware of anything going on around him anymore.

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><p><strong>And thus the Mark of Mastery chapters are up. Sora and Roxas will each get their own chapter in which I will put them through hell in one way or another. I swear I'm going to hell for what I did to Sora… ANYWAY, I'll see you all next week, and review guys!<strong>


	15. Something About a Test: Sora

**Mark of Mastery time! Roxas and Sora's tests will be completely different so don't worry guys, you won't be reading the same basic concept twice. Unlike what they did in Birth by Sleep, I actually tried to put effort into what the mark of Mastery should be so let's see how I did, shall we? After each of the tests I'll actually put a few notes about the test itself and the actual point to it, in case anyone misses it. I hope everyone enjoys and R&R guys!  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 15 :-**_-  
><em>** Something About a Test - Sora **

Sora was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a perfect student. He tended to rush his homework, his mind wandered off to completely different things during class, and his grades were average at best. However, despite his short attention span for anything relating to school, he was proud to say he'd at the very least never fallen asleep during class out of boredom. This was something Roxas had managed to accomplish multiple times.

Thus, when he was suddenly woken up by his biology teacher, Mister Parker, slamming a ruler onto his desk because he'd been dozing off, he was more than a little surprised. Biology was far from his favourite subject, but he wasn't exactly bad at it either. Also, his teacher was a bit of a mean old man who tended to yell at people for not paying attention. This wasn't a class he'd expected to fall asleep in.

"Could you tell the class what we were just discussing?"

"Uhm…" Sora bit his lip nervously, glancing to his left to see if Kairi might be able to give him a hint. Kairi's hand moved over the page of the book in front of her, trying to point at what they'd just been learning about. Sadly, Sora never even had a chance to try and figure out what exactly Kairi was pointing at as Mister Parker once again called for his attention by tapping the ruler on his desk insistently. "Well?"

Sora focussed back on the teacher, smiling sheepishly at the man. "Something involving a lot of words I don't understand?" He heard several people snicker in the classroom as the teacher's eyes narrowed on him.

"Well, allow me to explain all those words to you, then. I expect to see you here after school as soon as the bell rings."

As the teacher walked back to the front of the class and continued his lesson, Sora leaned back in his chair and sighed. He really wanted to know how Roxas kept getting away with this.

"Didn't you get enough sleep last night?" Kairi glanced at him, whispering so she wouldn't get in trouble as well. Sora frowned, trying to remember what he'd been doing the night before, but not remembering anything special. He'd gone to bed at the normal time, woken up at the normal time, jumped on top of Roxas' bed to wake him up at the normal time… nothing special had happened. "No, though you could've woken me up before Parker noticed me."

Kairi smiled sheepishly, glancing at the teacher to make sure he hadn't caught them yet, before turning back to him. "You don't usually fall asleep during class so I hadn't noticed. Sorry, Sora."

Sora sighed again, glancing at Kairi's book to see where they were and turning to the right page. Class continued without any further disruptions, and Sora was more than happy to get out of the classroom by the time the bell rang.

After biology came maths — wonderful, numbers instead of words he didn't understand — and, thankfully, lunch after that. Roxas and Hayner were already sitting at their usual lunch table, greeting him as he sat down opposite Roxas.

"You have got to tell me how you manage to sleep through class without being caught. I suck at it apparently."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said it was a bad habit. Why would you want to know?"

"I might've fallen asleep in biology and gotten myself caught." Sora laughed nervously. "I wonder what mom's going to say when I tell her I got detention."

Roxas frowned at him in confusion and even Hayner, who had been eating his lunch and had barely even been paying attention to their conversation, gave him a surprised look. "Since when do you have biology?"

Sora blinked, a look of confusion also crossing his face. "I've had biology the entire year. I have it on…" He frowned, trying to remember on which days he had biology, but coming up blank. "It's taught by that one teacher that's always so strict. Mister…" The name of his teacher also escaped him. It was almost as if trying to remember only made the information slip away further from him. "I had it before maths…"

"Don't you have a free period before maths?" Hayner asked, still looking at him in confusion.

"Are you feeling okay, Sora?" Sora ignored the tone in Roxas' voice that heavily suggested he'd gone insane. He nodded, still trying to figure out why he couldn't remember the name of a teacher he'd just seen. Roxas looked at him for a moment longer before being distracted by Hayner's rambling as Olette entered the room. Sora glanced up as well as Hayner's rambling began, deciding he'd remember later. He had detention with the man after all, so someone was bound to mention his name sooner or later.

"Honestly, will you just go and ask her out already?" Roxas rolled his eyes at Hayner's behaviour. Sora heard a giggle next to him and glanced to his side to see Kairi sitting down next to him.

"Is he going on about Olette again?"

"Who else?" Roxas snorted. "It's all he ever really talks about these days."

"Shut up!" Hayner gave them both annoyed looks. "Just wait until you like someone."

"You could just let me ask if she likes you." Kairi smiled, "Unlike you, I talk to her on a regular basis without stuttering."

"Just shut up and leave it alone," Hayner grumbled, taking another bite of his lunch.

"Whatever you say." Roxas shrugged. "Do you think I can come over to your place after school without her name coming up every other minute? I still have to beat that new high score you got."

Hayner's mood instantly changed as the blond grinned. "I'd like to see you try. Just accept that I'm better than you."

"You should stop lying to yourself," Roxas threw back with a smirk. "That high score is going down."

Sora watched the two banter in amusement, an odd feeling of nostalgia washing over him. It felt like he hadn't seen this for such a long time. That was ridiculous though; Hayner and Roxas argued like this almost non-stop.

"Boys." Kairi sighed as she shook her head at the arguing duo. She retrieved her own lunch and started to eat it, ignoring the banter as she always did. She was anything but a video game lover, so whenever Roxas and Hayner went at it like this — which was quite often — she'd just pretend not to know them.

A smile worked its way onto Sora's face as he just watched his friends. He really didn't know why it felt like he hadn't seen this for so long, but either way it was just fun to watch them like this.

* * *

><p>'<em>History?'<em>

Sora stared at the classroom in front of him in confusion. He looked at the number next to the classroom for at least the fifth time since he'd gotten there to make sure he hadn't made a mistake, only to see that this was indeed the room he usually had biology in.

What was going on? First Roxas couldn't remember he had biology, then he himself couldn't remember when he had biology exactly or who taught it, and now the classroom he was supposed to have detention in was already being used by a different class. He'd recognised the teacher teaching the class before he'd gone in thankfully, as he had her for history as well. Why in the world was Miss…

Wait, what was her name again?

He frowned, looking down at the ground in thought. This was stupid. This was one of his favourite teachers. He wouldn't just forget her name. What was wrong with him today?

Frustrated that he was forgetting things left and right, and determined to remember, he looked back up. He was going to go into the classroom, ask the teacher where his detention was supposed to be if it wasn't here, and if no one mentioned the teacher's name before he left, he'd simply ask her.

He froze in place as he looked back into the classroom, no longer seeing anyone inside. The room was completely deserted, not even a book or pen still lying around. No one could have possibly left the room because he was standing right in front of the door. They would have had to pass him to leave, and he was sure no one had passed by him.

So why was the classroom empty?

He entered the classroom in confusion, looking around and trying to convince himself that he could still see people sitting at the desks. No matter how he tried though, the seats remained empty, and the classroom remained silent.

"Sora?"

Sora jumped as someone grabbed his shoulder. He whirled around to see Roxas staring at him, once again that look that wondered if he'd gone insane on his face. "Why are you standing in an empty classroom?"

"I had detention and…" Sora looked back into the room, still utterly confused. "There was a history class here…"

"There's no history here on Tuesday." Roxas frowned at him. "Are you getting a fever or something? You've been saying a lot of weird things."

Sora wanted to tell Roxas to stop looking at him as if something was wrong with him, but by this point he himself wasn't entirely sure anymore. He let Roxas pull him out of the classroom as they headed for the main entrance to the school. As they passed by several other classrooms, Sora couldn't help but notice that all of them were empty. "Where is everyone?"

Roxas glanced at him in concern. "Sora, everyone's already gone home. You know we're generally the last to leave. We were complaining about it just yesterday."

Sora frowned. He couldn't remember that. Now that Roxas mentioned it though, he did remember the school becoming emptier over the course of the day.

Maybe he _was_ becoming sick…

As they reached the main hall of the school, Sora glanced around for Hayner. Sick or not, he wouldn't want Roxas to give up on kicking Hayner's ass. "Where's Hayner?"

"He's waiting outside. I'll go and tell him I have to take you home because you're sick."

"No, I'm fine. I don't feel sick or anything so I can get home on my own," Sora insisted, grabbed his jacket. Roxas looked at him hesitantly. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He forced a smile onto his face. Honestly, he felt fine — excluding his confusion — so there was no need for Roxas to miss out on gaming with Hayner.

"If you're sure…" Roxas still looked hesitant as he grabbed his jacket as well. He gave Sora another worried glance, but Sora simply continued to smile. "It's your own fault if you faint before you get home."

Sora chuckled as they left the building. "I think I can last until I get home." He looked around curiously as they stepped outside and he didn't see anyone. "So where is he?"

"Who?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Who do you think? Hay—" He frowned. Hay… Hay who?

Roxas snorted. "I don't generally go around, looking for hay."

"No, you were going home with him…"

"With hay?" Roxas raised an eyebrow, the worried look returning. "Sora…"

"No!" Sora stamped the ground in frustration, the urge to throw something at it suddenly hitting him. "You were going home with a friend! We were just talking about it!"

Roxas stared at him for a moment before putting his hand on his forehead. "You don't feel feverish…"

"I don't have a fever! You were going home with your best friend because he'd beaten a high score! You two were talking about it during lunch! You were teasing him that he likes that one girl…" Once again he came up blank as he tried to put a name to the memory.

"Sora, the only other person who eats with us is Kairi, and she's already gone home because school ends earlier for her." Roxas removed his hand and looked at him hesitantly. "If this is a joke, you totally got me. If it's not… I think this is the first time I'll agree with mom when she calls the hospital."

"I'm not joking!" Sora rubbed his temple, a headache starting to form. "He's always annoying you and we tease him because he likes that one girl. You always go gaming with him and…" He tried very hard to come up with any other details but he couldn't even come up with an appearance anymore. Why was he forgetting about everyone? And why was it happening to Roxas as well?

Roxas grabbed his arm and started dragging him in the direction of their home. Sora resisted at first, but stopped as Roxas threw him a warning look. Whenever something was out of Roxas' control, he got angry. It was best to cooperate with him at those times.

Still, he refused to believe that he was going insane, or that he was becoming sick. Something was going on, and it was making people forget about other people. Roxas had a best friend he always hung out with, Sora was sure of that.

It only took five minutes to get to their house. The minute they entered the house, Roxas ordered him to get into bed while he went to get their mother. Sora, despite still holding on to his belief that there was nothing wrong with him, did as he had been told. He sighed as he got into bed, already imagining his mother's reaction.

"Sora! Are you okay, Baby?" Although he'd expected the death-hug that followed his mother's question, Sora still gasped for air as it lasted a little longer than it normally did.

"Mom! I need air!" His mother loosened her grip, but did not pull away. She looked at him with large, worried eyes, and Sora was tempted, if only for a moment, to just smile and tell her everything was fine and he just wasn't feeling very well. He pushed the urge aside with a lot of effort. This wasn't the time to make her feel better. "Mom, people are forgetting about other people! Roxas forgot about his best friend and I can't remember any of my teachers!"

As Roxas had done before her, his mother's look turned into one that heavily implied she thought he'd gone insane. "Honey, you and Roxas are each other's best friend. Neither of you have any other friends."

Sora groaned in frustration, shaking his head stubbornly. "No, we have other friends! Roxas has that guy I was just talking about and we also have…" He stopped talking as he realised he couldn't remember yet another name.

His mother looked at him fearfully, scared that he really had gone insane. Sora stared at her blankly, in complete disbelief that he'd forgotten about yet another friend.

"I'm going to call the hospital." Sora barely noticed it as his mother got up and rushed out of the room. He didn't notice Roxas taking her place on the bed at all until he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder, and he looked up slowly. "Roxas, I'm not going insane…"

Roxas hesitated for a moment again before shaking his head. "Sora, you keep talking about people that—"

"You forgot about them!" Sora clenched his fists in his blanket, his frustration returning. Roxas stayed silent, simply sitting there and staring at him.

They sat in complete silence for a moment before Sora noticed that he couldn't hear his mother screeching on the phone for an ambulance or the army to come. His stomach turned as a feeling of dread filled him. "Roxas, why can't I hear mom?"

"Who?"

'_No…'_

"Mom, she just went to call the hospital... right?" Sora looked at Roxas desperately, willing his brother to agree with him. Willing him to say their mother was just already done calling and he'd missed it somehow. Willing him to—

"Sora, we never knew our parents…"

'_No!' _He could feel himself starting to shake.

"We've always lived on our own…"

"_No!_" Sora shook his head violently, tears starting to stream down his face. He could still remember what their mother looked like. She had curly, blonde hair; brown eyes; had just been wearing a… a…

The image was starting to slip.

He desperately tried to hold onto the picture, trying to picture his father's face at the same time. Just as he'd taken hold of both the images firmly, he could feel them slipping away. He tried to grab them again, but felt them drifting away further until nothing was left.

He looked back at Roxas, realising that his brother was the only person left that he could remember. Roxas stared back at him, a hint of the fear he _knew_ he'd seen in his mother's eyes before now showing in Roxas' eyes. "No…"

"Sora, what—" Sora practically pounced on top of his brother, holding on to him as if his life depended on it. He could feel Roxas freezing up for a second before wrapping his arms around him. Sora could still feel himself shaking, crying, and probably holding on to Roxas far too tightly, but he refused to let go. Even if it was the last thing he did, he was going to remember Roxas. He was going to hold onto him, and he wasn't going to let go. He wouldn't forget Roxas.

"Relax, Sora. You're acting as if I'm going to disappear on you."

Sora shook his head, his grip only tightening as a mantra of Roxas' name started up in his head. He wasn't going to forget. "I'm not letting you disappear like everyone else!"

"Why in the world would I disappear? Where would I even go?"

Sora continued to shake his head, refusing to let go of Roxas or the mantra of his name. He wasn't going to forget. He _refused_ to forget. He'd forgotten about everyone else, but he wouldn't forget about Rox… Rox…

He grit his teeth, his grip once again tightening as he forced himself to remember the name. He wasn't going to forget about _Roxas_.

"Sora, you're choking me!" Sora loosened his grip by the very minimum, forcing his eyes open to stare up at Roxas. Everyone else had disappeared while he couldn't see them. Maybe if he just kept looking at Roxas…

His eyes widened as he looked at Roxas, his entire body going rigid.

"Sora? You look like you've seen a ghost." Sora stared in horror as a slightly translucent Roxas chuckled at him. Roxas frowned at his reaction, waving a hand in front of his eyes. Sora figured he must look completely out of it by this point. "Sora…?"

'_Roxas, Roxas, Roxas, Roxas, Roxas, Roxas, Rox… Roxa… Ro…'_

"Please don't go…" He could only see a very vague shape below him now. The form seemed to ask him something, but Sora couldn't even hear its voice anymore. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to summon back the image of his brother with all his might. His brother's name started with an 'R', right? And he had… what was his hair colour again?

He curled up on the soft bed below him, his body starting to shake once more. He was having trouble breathing, the air never quite filling his lungs enough, and it was getting worse as he tried to drag more oxygen into his lungs. He withdrew into himself, trying to get away from the pain. He didn't want to feel it anymore. He wanted to get away from it…

A whispering voice broke through the safe cocoon of his own mind, the voice smooth and soothing.

"**I can help you get away from it."**

Sora didn't break from his trance-like state, but within his numbed cocoon his attention focussed on the voice. He wanted the pain to leave.

"**All you have to do is forget…"**

His body, just having settled as he'd managed to escape reality, started to shake again at those words. The trance-like state he'd managed to put himself in broke instantly, and he could once again feel tears starting to stream down his face. "I don't want forget!" His voice echoed in the emptiness surrounding him. Sora kept his eyes closed, unwilling to see the nothingness around him.

"**But you've already forgotten. Those memories lost to you can no longer be retrieved. If you wish, I have the power to let you forget that you have forgotten, though."**

Against his will, his eyes snapped open in shock. He could forget that he'd forgotten? If he didn't know that he'd forgotten about everyone, it wouldn't hurt anymore…

"**That's right, you'd be free of the pain tormenting your heart. What use are memories when all they do is hurt you?"**

"It wouldn't hurt anymore?" He sat up, the nothingness surrounding him somehow very solid below him. His body was still shaking, and his breathing was still irregular, but he'd stopped crying and could think again.

"**Yes, all you have to do is ask and I'll let you forget you ever had friends, parents, a brother, **_**anything**_**. You'll be free."**

Sora stared into the void blankly, the shaking intensifying once more as he thought back to the people he'd forgotten about. He couldn't remember their names or their faces, only what they'd been to him and what they'd meant to him.

He knew he had a mother who was so paranoid, she'd walked him to school until recently, despite the fact that he was 16 already.

He knew he had a father who would sneak in candy because otherwise there would never be any in the house.

He knew he had a twin brother who beat up bullies for him, and always managed to cheer him up when he was feeling sad.

He knew that twin brother had a best friend he always bantered with about who was better at… anything.

He knew he himself had a best friend who watched bad movies with him so they could mock them.

He knew he'd forgotten about many more people who, although not quite as important as his family or friends, had been a part of his life for years.

"Forget… about all of them…"

"**Yes, do you want me to stop the pain?"**

Sora closed his eyes again, pulling his knees up to his chest as new tears fell from his eyes. "No."

There was a moment of silence before the voice came again, the smooth and soothing quality having turned to furious disbelief.

"**No? You wish to live with the pain and let it consume you?"**

Sora shook his head again, making himself even smaller. "I just don't want to forget what they meant to me. The pain at least reminds me they were real."

There was a loud cry of anger and Sora's eyes snapped open again, almost expecting to be attacked. His eyes widened as his surroundings changed, if only slightly. He found himself sitting on a circular platform, the dark void that surrounded it somehow different from the void he'd been sitting in before. This void felt… safe, comforting even.

He stood up shakily, looking down at his feet as he noticed that the platform he was standing on had several images on it. As he looked them over, memories washed over him. The names and faces of everyone he'd forgotten about returned to him, as well as the memories that had been forced away by the trance he remembered he was in now.

The outer circle of the platform had numerous smaller circles along it, each having the same, vaguely familiar symbol on it. Although the symbol was darkened, Sora could make out a heart of which the bottom turned into an oddly-shaped cross. He stared at it for a moment before remembering that the symbol had been on one of Vexen's folders.

The inner circle held the image of the Destiny Islands. At the edge of this circle were more, small circles, each holding a picture of someone he cared for. He could see Roxas, Riku, Kairi, his parents, and even Hayner and Axel.

As his body's shaking subsided to a tremble, Sora realised that everything he'd just gone through had been a test — the Mark of Mastery. He couldn't help but sink back down to his knees in relief, letting every person he'd forgotten about come to the forefront of his mind for a moment. He remembered everyone, face and name alike.

_You have done well  
>young Keyblade wielder<em>

For the second time that day a voice penetrated his thoughts. This time, however, Sora was far more aware of how odd it was. "Uhm… hello?"

_This is a place  
>that reflects<br>your heart_

_Making  
>it here<em>

_Means you have  
>resisted the darkness<br>and chosen the light_

"But all I did was say I didn't want to forget about my friends and family." Sora frowned in confusion. "How does that mean I've chosen the light over the darkness?"

_Because forgetting  
>would have been easy<em>

_You chose to fight  
>despite suffering<br>as a consequence_

_You did not chose  
>to abandon the people<br>in your heart_

Sora, despite this answer confusing him, was more than happy to accept the fact that he had passed his test. He had no interest in going through something like this ever again. "So now what?"

_Now you are  
>a true Master<br>of the keyblade_

Sora felt a tingling sensation slowly working its way down his arm. He looked down as his keyblade seemed to summon itself, though it wasn't his usual keyblade.

The colour scheme of the keyblade had changed radically. The guard was now a deep black, and the shaft and teeth were a dark grey. Aside from the change in colour, the only really obvious changes were the teeth of the keyblade themselves. Rather than looking like the teeth of any ordinary key, they had turned into a single, blunt point with concave sides. At the very tip of the keyblade, the head of a lion stared back at him.

_Sleeping Lion —  
>for the nice guy<br>who can kick ass_

Sora couldn't help but grin at those words, remembering very clearly that he'd spoken them not too long ago to Riku to describe himself.

The darkened symbols in the outer circle of the platform lit up, the odd design shining the brightest of anything else on the mural. Sora looked at them curiously, making a mental note to ask what exactly the symbol stood for.

_Now go_

_Show the world_

_Your true power_

The platform started to fade from his vision as everything turned dark. He became aware of sitting on the hard, cold ground, his back protesting as he stirred since he had been leaning against the wall this entire time.

As his senses returned to him, he could vaguely hear voices around him. He fought his way through the last remains of the trance, wanting nothing more than to wake up and get as far away from this memory as he could.

* * *

><p><strong>A few notes. Firstly, anyone who's played Re:coded will no doubt recognize the general idea of Sora's Mark of Mastery. For both Sora and Roxas, I tried to use any time they've been tempted by the darkness during the games. For Sora, the time during Re:coded was pretty much the only time. Roxas' test will be far more based on his situation in this story though, since he's never been tempted by the darkness. He's always been a part of it, after all.<strong>

**Secondly, the power of the keyblades I choose for Sora and Roxas have nothing to do with the power they might give you in the games. I'm simply picking keyblades I think suit their situation within this story, and any transformed keyblade is just as powerful as any other, with a single exception. This means that if I'd thought the Winnie the Pooh keyblade from KH2 would've suited Sora's personality best, it would've actually been stronger than the Kingdom Key he's been using so far.**

**Thirdly, the heart murals for both Sora and Roxas I had to redesign, naturally. As you'll see next chapter, there are differences between them because they've reacted quite differently to this entire situation. Also, the reason the voice on the platform aligns differently the entire time is because the voice in the game did the same. FFnet, to my great irritation, refuses to align things to the right. Because of this, the text actually jumps around less than it should. I really hate FF for that right now because it kinda destroys the effect, but I hope it still came across somewhat.**

**Anyway, next week will be Roxas' test, which will be quite different from Sora's in many ways. See you all next week guys, and review!**


	16. Something About a Test: Roxas

**Onwards to Roxas' test! Originally I thought I was never going to get this one to be as long as Sora's was, but it ended up beating it by far. It kind of scares me that this chapter is as long as it is °sweatdrops° Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys and R&R folks.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><em>-<em>**-: 16 :-**_-_**  
><strong>**Something About a Test - Roxas **

Roxas enjoyed sleeping in. It wasn't that he went to bed late or anything — his mother wouldn't let him even if he'd want to — or that he needed more sleep than others to be fully rested. No, he just really liked to lie around in bed, even after he'd woken up, and be comfortable for a while before he got up.

Sadly, lying around in bed after he'd woken up — or even sleeping in later than 8 in the morning — was practically impossible with Sora as a brother. Sora was a morning person, unlike Roxas. Sora always woke up early, was always immediately fully awake, and always proceeded to come to his room to jump up and down on his bed so Roxas would wake up as well.

To say Roxas was happy when Sora was invited for a sleepover was an understatement. Sadly, Sora did not have very many sleepovers.

"Roxas!" Roxas groaned as something heavy landed on his bed and started to bounce. He turned around, trying to stay asleep. He'd been having a very strange dream. There had been keys for some reason, and he'd been fighting. He couldn't quite remember the details anymore though. What had he been fighting again?

Tiny, little pinpricks of light filled his vision.

Roxas' eyes snapped open instantly, Sora jumping on top of him at the same time. He groaned as Sora grinned down at him, already fully awake and acting as if he'd had too much caffeine.

"Did you sleep well?" Sora made himself comfortable, still lying on top of him with a large grin on his face.

Roxas rolled his eyes, pushing Sora off of him. "I was until you decided to use my bed as a trampoline." He sat up, frowning slightly as that strange dream started to slip away from him again. There was something important about it, but the details just wouldn't come to him. The only thing he could really remember were those tiny, little lights in the distance that had woken him up, and he couldn't even remember why those had freaked him out so much. Honestly, what was so scary about lights?

"Well, your bed makes a good trampoline." Sora shrugged, jumping off the bed and sitting down on Roxas' desk chair so he could spin around on it. "Besides, it's eight already. If I hadn't woken you up, you would've slept your Saturday away."

"And wouldn't that have just been a shame," Roxas muttered, letting himself fall back down onto the bed. Maybe Sora wouldn't notice if he just went back to sleep?

"Roxas! You can't go back to sleep!"

Or not. Roxas sighed, "Fine, I'm getting up already." He wanted a new brother. One that would let him lie in bed all day if he wanted to.

As they walked downstairs for breakfast, a feeling of nostalgia assaulted him as he saw his mother staring intently into a newspaper. It was a habit of hers to scan the local newspaper for any suspicious activities that might endanger one of them. Roxas shook his head at the odd sensation of nostalgia. He saw this every morning. It wasn't like he hadn't seen this in ages.

"Morning, mom." Sora bounced up to her and gave her a hug. Their mother managed to rip herself away from the newspaper momentarily to return the hug, smiling at them both. "Good morning. You boys never go to the mall on the other side of town, right?"

Roxas and Sora glanced at each other knowingly for a moment before looking back at their mother and smiling reassuringly. "Of course not."

Roxas could hear his father cough from behind his own newspaper, the man looking at them in amusement for a moment. Roxas simply continued to smile innocently, aware that his father knew they were lying. Their town had several supermarkets and small shops spread all over, and a single mall across town from their house. This mall was where both Sora and he went with their friends whenever they needed something, because it was easier to get everything there than going all over town to get what everyone wanted.

No doubt his mother had just found an article about a robbery of some sorts, and would continuously warn them to not go near the mall until some other shop was robbed. After that the mall would be perfectly safe again.

"Good." His mother smiled brightly. "Your father and I were planning on going to the beach after dinner. Do you want to come along?"

Roxas had to bite back several comments involving an old fear of his mother that merpeople would come to abduct Sora and him. It wasn't a good idea to remind her of something she'd apparently forgotten about. Instead, he smiled at her and nodded. "Sure, I didn't have any plans yet."

"Beach trip!" Sora punched the air enthusiastically. "Can't we go before dinner?"

"No dear, your father has some work around the house I want him to do first." Their mother gave Sora another quick hug as the brunet pouted before standing up. "Now, why don't I make you boys breakfast while you go and watch your cartoons."

"Okay!" Sora's face lit up again as he bounced towards the TV, dragging Roxas behind him. Despite how normal this was to Roxas, he still shook his head in fond exasperation. The nostalgic feeling inside of him grew and he frowned, wondering what in the world was causing the feeling.

He shook his head again, making himself comfortable in front of the TV and deciding to just ignore it. He was going to enjoy his Saturday and try to do as little as possible. He was going to ignore anything weird, and just relax.

It wasn't until after he'd already finished his breakfast that he was drawn out of his happy bubble. As the cartoon on the TV slowly panned to a starry sky, Roxas could've sworn that he could see vague shadows moving around the tiny lights. He shot up, his heartbeat suddenly racing for some reason. He stared at the screen for a moment before he realised that the shadowy blurs had reminded him of his nightmare.

"Roxas," Roxas glanced aside to see Sora looking at him curiously, "are you okay?"

Roxas pushed away the unsettling feeling that had started to form inside of him. He smiled reassuringly, shrugging dismissively. "Yeah, I just thought I saw something."

Sora raised an eyebrow, the curious look turning into an amused one. "You looked like you'd seen a ghost. I didn't know cartoons scared you that much."

Roxas snorted, never one to be called scared. "Says the person who still asks me to check if the Boogieman is in his closet. I think I have quite a ways to go before I'm as scared of imaginary things as you are."

Sora pouted, crossing his arms and stubbornly looking back at the TV. Roxas smirked as he made himself comfortable again, looking back at the TV in satisfaction.

After watching TV for a while longer, Roxas headed upstairs to his room so he could check his email. He was looking over the umpteenth photo that someone had uploaded onto Facebook — seriously, why had he let Hayner talk him into getting an account? — when he froze in place for a moment once again. He shook his head, looking at the picture more closely. That nightmare was really bugging him for some reason. He could've sworn he'd seen a small, shadowy creature swiping at Hayner's back with sharp claws. Now all he could see behind Hayner was his shadow. Maybe his mother's paranoia was finally getting to him? He'd been doing everything in his power to prevent that from happening for years now, trying to stay as grounded as possible in his thinking. Was his mother finally getting to him?

He sighed, noticing Hayner coming online just as he clicked the page with Facebook away. He clicked the window open as Hayner started to talk to him, immediately demanding he come over. Apparently his aunt and uncle were there for the weekend, and he needed someone to come and distract him from his annoying, little cousins.

Roxas checked his clock to make sure there was still more than enough time to go over to Hayner's before dinner. Seeing that it was still only noon, he said he'd be right over before shutting his computer off.

It took him ten minutes to get out of the house, only barely escaping his mother as she suggested she walk him over to Hayner's house in case anything happened on the way there. Hayner's house was a ten minute's walk away from where he lived, though, so she didn't make it too difficult to get away from her, thankfully. When he reached his friend's house, Hayner practically ripped the door open almost as soon as he pressed the doorbell.

"What took you so long? Mom's making me play tag with them and—" Before Hayner had even finished his sentence, a small boy ran up to him and poked him, "Tag!"

Hayner groaned as the boy ran away again, giggling madly. "Remind me to never have kids."

Roxas chuckled, more amused than anything by Hayner's behaviour. "You should've asked Sora over instead of me. He would've taken your place in a heartbeat." He stepped inside, following Hayner into the living room where he saw Hayner's parents talking to who were no doubt his aunt and uncle. Three small children ran to the other side of the room as Hayner entered, laughing and yelling loudly that they needed to get away before Hayner could tag one of them.

"Mom, Roxas dropped by. Can we go and play video games?"

Hayner's mother looked up and smiled, "Hello Roxas, just a random visit?" The knowing look she gave him made it obvious that she knew exactly why he was there. Regardless, Roxas smiled back at her politely. "Yeah, I had nothing better to do so I figured I'd come and bug Hayner."

"How nicely timed," Hayner's mother replied before turning to the smaller children. "It seems you're going to have to continue playing without Hayner."

"Aw!" All three children pouted. Then one quickly poked the boy that had previously tagged Hayner and ran away as fast as he could, "Tag, you're it!"

"Come on, before they manage to somehow get me involved again." Hayner quickly headed for the staircase, ignoring Roxas' amused chuckle as he headed for his room. "So, Super Smash?"

"Sure." Roxas plopped down on the couch in front of Hayner's TV, waiting for the game to start up. Despite the fact that he usually enjoyed playing games, he didn't really feel like it today. In fact, as he performed the first super move of the match, he could actually feel annoyance building up inside him. He honestly couldn't figure out where the annoyance was coming from, but as Peach pulled out her umbrella to fly, defying the laws of physics like all good cartoon characters should, he actually felt like throwing the controller at the TV screen.

Something was seriously wrong with him today…

He turned to face Hayner, wanting to suggest they play something else, only to jolt away from the other as he saw one of the little, shadowy creatures sitting next to him. Roxas blinked and shook his head for a moment, looking back to see Hayner looking at him weirdly. "Dude, are you okay?"

Roxas sighed, his body relaxing again. "Yeah, I'm just a little on edge for some reason. Can we play something else, by the way? I don't really feel like Super Smash today."

"Sure." Hayner frowned at him before walking over to his games and starting to suggest some others they could play. No matter how many Hayner named, though, Roxas just couldn't find his normal enthusiasm for any of them.

In the end, Hayner ended up playing one of the RPGs he had lying around, more than a little annoyed that Roxas had apparently lost his love for video games. Roxas simply stared at the TV blankly, trying to focus on the game and at least comment on it as Hayner played, but his mind constantly wandering to the weird things he had been seeing.

As Hayner ranted about how hard the boss he was fighting was, Roxas swore he could see a shadow moving past Hayner's window. Roxas stubbornly stared at the TV more intently, refusing to let his mind play any more tricks on him. He was done jumping up every time he thought he'd seen something strange. He was supposed to just relax today and do absolutely nothing. He could stress about silly things tomorrow when he had to go and do his homework.

A few minutes passed before there was a sudden, loud scream from the neighbour's house. Roxas and Hayner both glanced up at the sound, staring at the wall curiously. There were more screams and they looked at each other with a frown.

As the screaming stopped, Hayner rolled his eyes. "Honestly, and they complain about me being too loud? They should turn their own TV down."

Roxas, on the other hand, looked back at the wall, a very unsettling feeling forming in his stomach once more. For some reason he had a feeling that something more had happened than Hayner's neighbours turning the volume of their TV up a bit too much.

Roxas' gaze was drawn back to the window as he thought he saw something move there. He stared as a blue, lantern-like creature hovered there for a moment before flying off.

"Seriously, the next time they complain about my music being too loud, I'm just going to tell them I'm not the only one who should turn down the volume at times. Right, Roxas?"

Roxas glanced over to Hayner, watching his friend push the buttons on his controller a bit more forcefully than before. He took a calming breath to try and slow down his racing heartbeat, mentally convincing himself that he was just imagining things. It was all that stupid nightmare's fault.

"Right."

* * *

><p>'<em>Just keep walking. Ignore the hallucinations. Everything is just fine. Just keep walking.'<em>

Roxas continued to stare straight ahead of him, ignoring the bright eyes of the shadowy figures he could see moving through the shadows of the houses around him. People around him walked by laughing, not taking notice of the small creatures watching them from the shadows. His fists clenched as he saw one of the blue, lantern-like things hovering by, red and yellow variants surrounding it. Despite how convinced he was that this was all his mind playing tricks on him, he still felt uneasy as he walked by a large group of the shadowy things.

A woman turned into an alley up ahead of him. He pointedly ignored the feeling in his gut that told him something was about to happen to the woman, and continued to walk home. He'd just passed the alley when a sudden scream grabbed his attention. Instinctively he rushed into the alley, his hands feeling incredibly empty for some reason.

Roxas froze in his tracks as he saw one of the shadowy creatures clawing at the woman he'd seen before, the woman's dress already torn in several places, and the way behind her blocked off by several more of the shadowy things. Roxas instantly rushed forward to try and help the woman, hallucination or no hallucination, only to be stopped by one of the blue, lantern-like things. It shot a blast of ice at the ground, Roxas slipping on it and falling to the ground. He groaned as he tried to get back up, coming face-to-face with one of the shadowy creatures. He shot back in surprise, but the creature merely stared at him. Above it, one of the blue, lantern things hovered in the air, also staring at him but not making any move to come closer. It was almost as if they were just there to try and stop him from helping the woman, and would only attack him if he interfered.

Roxas was snapped out of his train of thoughts as the woman let out a last scream before falling to the ground, the shadowy thing that had been attacking her standing on top of her body and seeming to drain something from her chest. Roxas stared with wide eyes as slowly the woman's body seemed to melt away, until finally she'd turned into the exact creature that had attacked her. The shadowy thing that had attacked her morphed as well, turning into one of the red lanterns and flying up into the air to join the others.

All the creatures in the alley looked at him, staring at him intently but not moving an inch. Roxas stared back, wondering if they would attack him if he moved. Would he turn into one of the shadowy things if they attacked? Why were they only staring at him right now?

Very slowly he started to get to his feet, keeping a close eye on the creatures as he did. They continued to stare at him, but even as he backed out of the alley, they didn't move any closer to him. As soon as he'd reached the street again, Roxas turned and made a run for it, trying to get as far away from the alley and the creatures as he could.

It wasn't until he'd already reached his house that he dared to look over his shoulder. There was no sign of any of the creatures anywhere, and Roxas turned around completely so he could look better.

From an alley a bit further away he could see two tiny, little lights shining. Roxas stared at them, realising he'd passed right by the alley, yet the eyes were focussed on a man working on his front garden at the end of the street.

Did the creatures really have no interest in him? He'd seen them looking at everyone around him, so why was he the only one they had no interest in? He wasn't complaining or anything, but it was just odd.

Roxas shook his head, trying to remind himself that the creatures were all a part of his imagination. He'd probably imagined the woman too, and Hayner's neighbours had just had a movie on too loud. It was ridiculous to think that they might've been attacked by one of these things.

"Roxas, why are you staring at… whatever you're staring at?" Roxas glanced up to see Sora hanging out of his bedroom window, cocking his head in confusion. Roxas forced a smile, though it was rather shaky no matter how hard he tried to make it look convincing. "Just making sure the Boogieman from your closet isn't following me."

Sora crossed his arms and pouted. "Boogiemen live in closets and they only come out at night."

"I thought you said you didn't believe in the Boogieman anymore." Roxas' forced smile turned into a genuine grin as Sora tried to glare at him.

"Shut up!"

Roxas chuckled, turning away from the bright eyes and opening the front door. They were all just illusions. He hadn't gotten enough sleep or something because of that stupid nightmare, and it was messing with his head. After he'd gotten a decent amount of sleep tonight everything would be fine again.

"Roxas, is that you?"

"Yeah, mom." Roxas closed the door behind him and walked into the kitchen, glancing at the food his mother was making and letting out a sigh of relief as he saw things he could actually recognise. His mother had a tendency to try out recipes of 'healthy' things she found in magazines. As long as he could at least recognise what he was eating, he was fairly sure it wouldn't kill him.

Throughout dinner, Roxas forced himself to pay attention to the conversation going on, and refused to let his mind wander to what he thought he'd seen today. Sadly, by the time dinner was gone and they walked to the car for their 'beach trip', as Sora kept calling it, his eyes automatically strayed to the alley he'd seen one of the shadowy creatures in as he'd come home. A shiver went down his spine as he saw a lot more eyes there now, and he couldn't help but wonder who had been attacked to create all those new creatures. No matter how hard he tried to tell himself that these things weren't real, his mind kept wandering to what he'd seen in the alley.

Well, real or not, at least the eyes he could see in the alley weren't looking in his direction. Maybe those things didn't have any interest in his family either?

To Roxas' utter relief, as they reached the beach there was no sign of any strange creature whatsoever. There were still masses of people lounging on the warm sand, children playing in the water, and restaurants full of hungry customers, but no strange, little creatures anywhere that might try and attack someone. Roxas instantly relaxed, letting Sora drag him over to an empty spot on the sand as their parents followed. This was what he wanted. He just wanted to lounge around, relax, and have nothing strange around him whatsoever. Everything was normal, just as it should be.

By the time the sun had almost set, Roxas was lying on the sand, completely relaxed. He'd finally managed to shake Sora off after having been dragged into the water a dozen times; his parents were lying next to him, probably having fallen asleep; and he was utterly content to just lie here for a while without doing a thing.

As he heard someone plop down on the beach towel next to him, Roxas opened his eyes to see a dripping-wet Sora lying down next to him. Roxas was about to comment that Sora might actually want to dry off since he was going to get cold without the sun out, when he saw movement from the corner of his eye. Distracted, he glanced aside and froze up once more when he saw those bright, little eyes staring at the people on the beach intently.

Roxas stared as one by one the shadowy figures came closer, the lantern-like creatures hovering above them. He opened his mouth to try and say something, only to be pinned by one of the shadows' gazes. The words froze in his throat as he stared back, feeling as if he was being warned not to do anything.

The creature turned away, heading in the opposite direction. A lot of people had vacated the beach by this point, and they were one of the few people still on the beach. Still, Roxas could clearly see a family sitting in the distance, two small children still running near the edge of the water.

Roxas looked around him, noticing several other creatures heading in the other direction where a couple was watching the sky above the ocean. Once again one of the shadowy creatures turned to him, pinning him with that warning gaze, before turning back to the couple. None of these creatures were coming towards them either

'_They really aren't attacking me… or Sora, or mom or dad.'_ Roxas continued to watch in stunned horror. The only time he'd been attacked had been when he'd tried to help the woman. He swore these things were giving him warning looks to just sit there and do nothing, and they wouldn't harm him or his family.

"Roxas, you're looking weirdly again." Roxas glanced down to see Sora looking up at him, cocking his head at him curiously once more. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? You've been acting weird today."

"I…" Roxas glanced at the strange creatures heading for the other people on the beach, his mind refusing to accept the idea that they were a mere figment of his imagination as he heard the couple sitting to the right of them getting up with a scream and running away. His fists clenched, once more feeling incredibly empty and as if he should be holding onto something. He should go help the family the other creatures were heading towards, call out to them and tell them to get away. If he did that, though, these things were going to attack him, and possibly Sora and his parents.

"**Just ignore everyone around you. Why would you give up your normal life? What could you even do to stop these things?"**

"Roxas, you're scaring me." Sora sat up, looking at him worriedly. The brunet put a hand on his forehead, checking if he had a fever or something.

Roxas took a deep breath before smiling, taking Sora's hand away from his forehead. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't get enough sleep thanks to a certain someone." He ruffled Sora's hair, Sora pouting as he ducked away.

"You should just go to bed earlier!" Roxas chuckled, trying his best to ignore the sudden cries he heard from the family as they noticed the creatures coming towards them.

"**That's right, they'll be just fine. Just enjoy the beach."**

"Want to go and get ice cream? I doubt mom or dad is going to wake up any time soon so they won't miss us." Sora grinned widely at the suggestion, jumping to his feet instantly.

Roxas smiled, getting to his feet as well and turning his back on the strange creatures in the distance. He couldn't do anything anyway, so why should he mess up his life?

Over the ocean, the sun set completely, darkness quickly swallowing the land.

Sora ran ahead of Roxas towards the ice cream stand they'd already spotted when they'd arrived, apparently completely oblivious to the strange creatures that glanced at him from the darkness. The creatures turned away from the brunet without giving him a second look, heading off to find other people. Roxas watched them numbly, torn between relief at the fact that they weren't just ignoring him, and guilt over not even trying to warn anyone else on the beach. But what was he supposed to do? He didn't even have anything to try and fight these things with.

"**Let someone else save these people. You have your own life to live."**

'_Right, if these things are real, I'm sure there's a random superhero flying around that's real as well.'_

As he caught up to Sora, he saw the brunet enthusiastically going over all the different kinds of ice cream he could possibly get. He rolled his eyes, holding back a smile as Sora turned to him with pleading eyes. "I want all of them…"

"Just pick one."

Sora pouted. "But they're all good."

"Pick one, or pay for your own ice cream." Sora sulked before finally picking one.

As Roxas turned to head back, a bar of sea-salt ice cream in hand and Sora already running towards their parents ahead of him, he vaguely noticed that clouds had started to drift in. He frowned, wondering if it was going to rain, before his eyes fell on the two children he'd seen before. They were running away from several of the hovering creatures, screaming and crying as they tried to escape them. Roxas froze in place, unable to simply turn his back on these children and walk away. His free hand clenched once more, as if trying to grab something that wasn't there. He couldn't just let these kids get killed, could he?

"**Sure you can. Why would you risk your life for people you don't know? If you try and save them, those creatures will attack you. They won't leave you alone after that, and you still don't have anything to stop them with anyway. Just let someone else save them."**

"But no one else is around…" Roxas looked around, only seeing his parents and Sora sitting on the beach. Everyone else had left, either willingly or while being chased. These kids' parents had probably already been attacked, so they didn't have anyone to save them.

"**You still don't have anything to fight with. Do you really want to give up your normal life to try and save people you don't even know?**

"I…" He didn't. Roxas didn't want to get these things' attention by trying to save people. He wanted to just go back to the beach, wait until his parents woke up, possibly bury his father in the sand while he waited, and then go home. He actually felt like doing his homework tomorrow, and going to school on Monday. He just wanted everything to go back to _normal_.

"**Then just walk away and go sit with your family."**

Roxas glanced at the beach, watching Sora waving him over. He took a step towards his brother, desperately wanting to just go and sit with his family.

Above him, the clouds had started to cover the moon, its light slowly fading away.

One of the children screamed and Roxas couldn't help but look over to see what had happened. One of the kids had tripped and had fallen down. The other had stopped to try and help his sister up.

"**Just walk away and your life can be normal."**

Roxas' gaze shifted between his family and the two kids, his time to make a decision running out quickly as the lantern-like creatures came closer to the children. He closed his eyes tightly, wanting to scream in frustration. He wanted to go sit next to Sora, eat his ice cream, bury his father in the sand, and go home once his parents had woken up. But he couldn't. He couldn't just leave those kids on their own and walk away. There were trees everywhere on the boulevard so he should be able to find a stupid branch or something to beat these things up with. He just… he couldn't just walk away, no matter how much he wanted to.

He opened his eyes again, ready to sprint towards the little kids and become the random superhero — albeit one that still needed to learn how to fly — that came to save the day. Instead of the darkened beach he expected to see, though, he found himself staring into a dark void, light coming from the circular platform he was standing on.

He blinked, trying to figure out what had just happened. Memories that had previously been suppressed came back to him, and Roxas' eyes closed once again in frustration as he realised everything he'd just seen had just been his Mark of Mastery test. He wasn't entirely sure if he'd actually passed or not, but either way he'd given up on his normal life for a second time because of those goddamned Heartless and all the damned supernatural things that came with them.

He opened his eyes again, looking around properly for the first time so he could try and figure out whether he'd passed his Mark of Mastery or not. He was completely surrounded by the void he'd seen the first time he'd opened his eyes. The only source of light came from the platform he was standing on, several familiar images depicted on its surface.

The platform had an outer ring that depicted several smaller circles with the symbol that he remembered seeing on one of Vexen's folders. Although the entire platform was lit up, these circles only gave off a very dim light, the symbols only barely visible. The inner circle showed a picture of Twilight Town, and had several more small circles lining the edge. These circles held the pictures of Sora, his parents, Hayner, Kairi, and Axel.

_You have made it here after all  
>young Keyblade wielder<em>

Roxas glared up at the calm void above him, trying to find the source of the voice he'd just heard. No matter how hard he tried to see anything around him, he couldn't see anything beyond the platform he was standing on. "Who said that?"

_Who I am  
>is of no<br>importance_

_The important thing  
>is the fact<br>that you have made it here_

_The darkness  
>had very nearly<br>overtaken you_

"So I guess I pass the test, then?" Roxas was very tempted to ask if he could just be put back into his test, only with the knowledge that everything around him was fake. He'd have a lot less trouble letting the Heartless have their way with everyone if he knew it was all just an illusion. Sadly, he knew Sora was waiting for him to wake up, Kairi was waiting until they'd come to save her, and staying unconscious for the rest of his life would give Axel far too many opportunities to do whatever he wanted. "Great, can I get my new keyblades and go?"

There was a lengthy pause before the voice spoke up again, its tone having switched from serene to confused.

_You do not want  
>to be a wielder<br>of the keyblade?_

"Of course not." Roxas rolled his eyes in exasperation. "That damned thing dragged me away from my parents, and you expect me to be happy with it?"

_Without it  
>you would have<br>already been dead  
>would you not?<em>

"Fine, let me correct it to hating everything supernatural that's happened to me so far." Roxas crossed his arms, really wishing he knew what to glare at.

_And yet you chose  
>to give up your happy life<br>to save people you do not know_

"I couldn't just walk away from those kids…" Roxas muttered. "I'm not selfish enough to just let people die when I could be trying to help them." Really, he'd tried to be that selfish and it hadn't worked. His conscious just wouldn't allow it. Why was he even trying to explain this to a disembodied voice? Then again, he supposed it wasn't the weirdest thing that had happened in the past few weeks.

There was another long silence. Roxas had just started to wonder if the voice had, left and if he was supposed to do something here, when the voice spoke up again. Disapproval coloured its tone this time.

_You have passed  
>your Mark of Mastery<em>

_However  
>you have not<em>

_Accepted your fate  
>as a Keyblade Master<em>

_Until you do accept  
>your destiny<em>

_You will not  
>be a true Master<em>

Roxas frowned in confusion. "So what does that mean?"

A tingling sensation went down both his arms and Roxas uncrossed them curiously. As he looked down at his hands, both his keyblades summoned themselves. Roxas looked at them in confusion before noticing that, although the keys had not changed shape in any way, the gold and silver colour scheme had reversed itself.

_Until you accept your fate  
>you will not be granted<br>the full powers of  
>a Keyblade Master<em>

_However, as you have  
>passed your Mark of Mastery<br>you will be given  
>part of the power<em>

_Return here  
>once you understand<br>what it is  
>to be a true Master<em>

Roxas had a feeling that might just take a very long time. He wasn't entirely sure where he'd just been, but that voice was insane. Why would he be grateful for being given two giant keys to go and kill Heartless?

A feeling of drifting upwards overtook him as the platform below him started to fade. As his mind slowly started to free itself from the trance it had been in this entire time, the first thing that assaulted his senses was a feeling of warmth. Annoyance immediately sparked in his mind, a sneaking suspicion of where that warmth was coming from settling in his mind

'_Axel.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Alrighty, a few notes for Roxas too. As I said in the last chapter, Roxas' test was something I had to come up with myself. Throughout this story, Roxas has been resisting the whole 'We have to go and save the world with our giant keys!' thing, so this test was born. For anyone who didn't get the point to it, Roxas had to choose to give up his normal life in favour of helping people.<strong>

**The keyblades he now has, the keyblades Mickey generally carries, are the one exception to the transformed keyblades all being equally powerful. My little theory of sorts is that the normal Kingdom Key is what non-Masters use, and the Reverse Kingdom Key is what a Master would carry. For this story, the Reverse Kingdom Key is stronger than a regular Kingdom Key, but still weaker than any truly transformed keyblade.**

**So yeah, I hope I didn't disappoint anyone with the tests I came up with. Next chapter we'll be back in reality and we can actually start working towards kicking Xemnas' ass. I'll see everyone next week, and review folks!**


	17. Something About an Aftermath

**You know, normally when I write a fanfic this is about the number of chapters I end up with. It's kind of a weird idea that I still haven't even gotten around to the end fights...**

**Well anyway, I hope everyone enjoys today's chapter. I had a lot of trouble writing it, but it's got quite a few important things going on in it. R&R guys!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><em>-<em>**-: 17 :-**_- _**  
><strong>** Something About an Aftermath **

"… least he's stopped shaking."

"I wonder why Roxy hasn't been doing anything."

"The Mark of Mastery tests are quite different from one another. Although I have no data on what each test entails exactly, I have been able to conclude from my research that every test is unique, yes."

As Sora's senses returned to him, the voices were the first thing that registered. He only paid attention to them for a very short moment, though, as a new sensation assaulted his senses. His eyes shot open, his hands grabbing at his chest, where a choking sensation had taken hold of something inside him.

He could feel the light, which he'd only been able to feel while summoning his keyblade before, flowing through him clearly now. It was almost hard to believe that he hadn't been able to feel the steady pulse of magic before, when it was so easy now. Obviously, his keyblade wasn't the only thing that had become stronger because of the Mark of Mastery.

Together with the light, he could also sense several other powers around him. There were two dark powers that something inside of him warned him for. There was another power of light as well, though it felt like it was being subdued. The fourth and last power consisted mostly of darkness, though Sora could also sense light in it. This power felt chaotic, as if it was at odds with itself constantly.

Although he should be happy to be able to feel this all so easily now, the darkness around him felt like it was trying to suffocate the light inside of him. The darkness had already been oppressive before, but it had been nothing like this. It was pushing in on him from all sides, actually making it harder to breathe.

Sora realised with a start that this must be what Kairi felt. In fact, being a Princess of Heart probably meant it was still worse for her. How did she stand it?

"Sora?" Sora looked up to see Riku, Axel, and Vexen looking at him. Riku was sitting left of him, his eyes showing an odd note of… worry? He was probably misreading it, but it looked like Riku was actually worried about him.

Vexen was still standing where he had been before, a notebook in his hands this time. One of his hands was moving over the page rapidly, the man no doubt having been making notes on all of the reactions Roxas and he had been giving during their Mark of Mastery.

Lastly, Axel sat to his right. The redhead had taken the liberty of putting Roxas in his lap despite Roxas' protests before the test had started. No doubt this would mean Roxas would try and murder Axel again, but Sora really didn't care right now.

The moment he saw Roxas, a wave of relief washed over Sora. Images of his Mark of Mastery flashed through his mind, and despite the fact that he knew it had only been an illusion, Sora couldn't help the shudder that went down his spine as he remembered how Roxas had faded away.

"Roxas!" He practically threw himself at his brother, not caring in the slightest that he was still unconscious. After having Roxas disappear on him, he just needed to make sure he was really there.

"Hey, haven't I told you to wait your turn? I'm still trying to molest him, got it memorised?" Unlike last time, Sora did not listen. Instead, he made himself as comfortable as he possibly could, fully intending to stay this way until Roxas woke up. He didn't even care that the darkness was still suffocating him.

Axel sulked, failing miserably at trying to dislodge Sora from Roxas. "Can't you go back to crying and find someone else to cling to? I'm sure Silverlocks won't mind. He's been hovering over you this entire time anyway."

Sora glanced over at Riku curiously, Riku looking back at him with a carefully blank look. Sora instantly recognized it as the type of blankness Riku only wore on his face when he really had something to hide. Had he been right about the worry he'd seen in Riku's eyes before after all?

Saving the thought for a later time, he looked back up at Axel. "I was crying?" It was only now that he noticed how cold his face felt. He'd been so preoccupied with the new feeling of light inside of him, and his relief at seeing Roxas again, that he hadn't even noticed it before now.

"You were crying and shaking during your Mark of Mastery." Sora glanced back at Riku once more, surprised that he would be the one to answer when he'd been trying to keep his face so carefully blank before. This time when his eyes met Riku's, the hint of worry was once more visible, unable to hide behind the blank mask. "What happened?"

"Yes," Vexen cut in, hand moving over the notebook even faster, "do enlighten us."

Sora didn't want to answer that, he really didn't. He curled back up against Roxas, stubbornly looking down at the ground and trying not to remember how he'd forgotten about everyone.

He heard Vexen tap his pen on the notebook impatiently, obviously still waiting for an answer. Above him, he heard Axel sigh, and felt the redhead poke the top of his head. "Kid, trust me when I say that he's not going to let up until you actually tell him what happened. Please tell him what he wants to know before he starts dropping the temperature around here in annoyance; I'm not particularly fond of the cold."

"Well, I think that proves he really does only care about Roxas," Riku muttered. Immediately after his comment there was a sound of rustling papers, and Sora glanced up to see that Vexen had taken out a different notebook. He wrote something down in this one before picking up the first one again. Apparently Vexen wasn't just observing him and Roxas, but Axel as well.

"So Axel really does care about Roxas?" Sora glanced up at Axel, who was frowning at Vexen and Riku in mild confusion. Sora had been wondering if he'd been right or not about Axel caring about Roxas since they'd been here last time, and changing the subject to avoid his Mark of Mastery was definitely a bonus.

"That's what they keep telling me." Axel shrugged. "Honestly though, they refuse to tell me how that's supposed to work so just ignore it."

"Trying to explain it to someone of such limited mental capabilities would be a waste of time," Vexen cut in, tapping his pen on his notebook impatiently once more. "Now, do not think changing the subject will allow you to avoid telling me of your Mark of Mastery, Sora."

Sora bit his lip and curled back up against Roxas again, looking at the ground stubbornly. "It made me forget about everyone, and everyone I forgot about disappeared. At the end I had to choose between living with the pain of having forgotten them, or letting the darkness take that pain away by making me forget I'd ever had friends or family." As he spoke, his body started to shake slightly again. His grip on Roxas tightened, and he had to remind himself once more that everything that had happened during the Mark of Mastery had been nothing but an illusion. Regardless, he had no intention of going into any further detail.

He heard Vexen write rapidly in his notebook before the man spoke again, "What was the setting of the Mark of Mastery?"

Sora remained silent, focussing on trying to stop shaking and just ignoring Vexen. He wasn't going to relive his Mark of Mastery for someone who couldn't care less about other people's feelings, and was only interested in gathering data.

To his surprise, the next question did not come from Vexen. Instead, it was Riku who spoke up. "You grabbed at your chest when you woke up."

Sora glanced back at Riku, more than a little grateful for the change of subject. His gratitude had probably shown on his face because Riku gave him a very brief smile before his face returned to its neutral expression. He'd deliberately changed the subject into something that would most likely still interest Vexen.

"I can feel the light magic inside of me now, but it feels like the darkness is trying to suffocate it…" Sora glanced around, biting his lip. Now that he was paying attention to it, everything even looked more threatening than before.

Riku's eyes widened fractionally before he got to his feet. "I'm taking him back to the Destiny Islands."

Vexen turned to Riku, a look of mild annoyance on his face. "I'm not done questioning him yet."

"He's going to start attracting Heartless," Riku shot back, narrowing his eyes on the scientist.

"The light of a Keyblade Master repels Heartless, it does not attract them." Vexen's eyes gained a glint of interest, the mild annoyance fading away in an instant. "You care for him."

Sora's eyes flashed to Riku at the latter comment, his heartbeat picking up slightly. Riku, though, ignored the comment. "As long as he's in their territory, the Heartless are going to attack him, regardless of how dangerous he feels to them."

Vexen's eyes continued to hold the glint of interest in them, his hand flipping the notebook to a different page as he made a few quick notes. He then flipped back to the page he'd been on previously, his eyes flashing back to Sora. "He may leave as soon as he has given me all the data I require."

Riku's eyes narrowed further, though he wasn't the next person to speak. In fact, Sora didn't even recognise the voice that spoke up. "I doubt you're going to get an answer out of him."

Sora turned to the door of the lab to see a new person entering the room. Despite the obvious masculine tone to the newcomer's voice, it took Sora a moment to realise the newcomer was indeed a man. His features had a distinctly feminine quality to them, not helped in the slightest by his shoulder-length, pink hair. As neither Vexen nor Riku jumped up at this new arrival, Sora assumed this must be the 'roommate' Riku had told them about when they'd first gotten here.

"Marluxia," Vexen greeted with a hint of exasperation to his voice. "I thought you were on a quest to find more Nobodies to help you defeat Xemnas."

"You act as though you don't want me here." A smirk that reminded Sora far too much of the ones Axel always gave Roxas crossed Marluxia's face, and Sora could've sworn he saw a shiver going down the scientist's body. "Besides, a Keyblade Master is far more interesting than any Nobody I might've found, so I decided to come back when I sensed one here."

Marluxia's gaze shifted to him and Roxas, a look of surprise crossing his features as he looked them over. The look of surprise turned to one of self-satisfaction very quickly afterwards. "I do love it when my plans pay off."

Sora frowned in confusion at the smug smirk Marluxia was giving him. He wasn't the only one either. Axel, Riku and Vexen were looking at Marluxia rather oddly as well. Vexen was the one to ask the obvious question, his pen already hovering over a blank page of his notebook in case anything of interest was said. "What do you mean, Marluxia?"

"Tell me," Marluxia bowed down towards Sora, the look on his face sending a shiver down Sora's spine. The look Marluxia was giving him was one his mother had always described while telling him about child molesters promising candy, "are you related to someone called Ventus?"

Sora's confusion only grew at the question. "Yeah, that was my great-grandfather's name. Mom was always talking about him and how he'd taught her how dangerous the world was…"

"What is this about, Marluxia." Vexen tapped his pen on the notebook impatiently.

Marluxia straightened up again, the smug smirk having gained a superior quality to it. "Before Xemnas destroyed the Keyblade Clan, I had hopes that a Keyblade Master would kill him for me. Once I found out he was planning to kill every single Keyblade Master around, I wasn't exactly pleased. So I decided to save a few people during the attack so they might be able to regroup and kill Xemnas for me after all."

"That worked out great," Riku grumbled. "I guess I have you to thank for being around."

"You're very welcome." Marluxia simply ignored the glare Riku threw at him. "In any case, one of the wielders I saved, a young boy named Ventus, looked exactly like the unconscious kid. It might've taken a while, but I believe my plan might still work out."

"Plan?" Vexen scoffed. "You saved a few keyblade wielders, completely ignoring the possibility that they or their offspring might attack you, all so you would not have to confront Xemnas yourself."

"Yes, and now I have two — possibly three —Keyblade Masters to beat Xemnas for me." The sense of superiority coming from Marluxia grew. "A perfect outcome to a perfect plan."

"And what's going to stop them from killing you?" Axel raised an eyebrow. "Roxy here doesn't like being used. He tends to go against whatever people tell him to do."

"Aren't humans supposed to be thankful when you save their life?" Marluxia shrugged. "Besides, I have no interest in Kingdom Hearts, and they could probably still use some help to defeat Xemnas."

Although Sora wasn't too fond of this latest addiction to their group of fighters, he had to admit that they could indeed use all the help they could get. Marluxia might be giving off a creepy vibe that very nearly made him want to hide behind Roxas again, but at least it was better than the dangerous vibe that had come from Xemnas the one time they'd seen him.

"Weren't you planning on making us do all the work while you stood by and watched?" Riku sounded more than a little reluctant to trust Marluxia on his word, despite how badly they needed the help.

Marluxia simply flashed a reassuring smile, only creeping Sora out further at how easily the man managed to pull off an expression like that even though it didn't suit him in the slightest. "I'm probably not going to get a better chance to get rid of Xemnas, so I'll just have to make a sacrifice and join you." He sighed in a very overdramatic fashion.

"Wonderful, you'll be leaving with them then, I presume?" Vexen asked, sounding a little too pleased with the idea.

Marluxia smirked, taking the last few steps towards Vexen and wrapping an arm around his waist. The position, especially combined with the reluctant look on Vexen's face, reminded Sora all too much of Axel and Roxas. In fact, Marluxia seemed to be a creepier version of Axel in several ways. "Don't be silly, I'll stay here until they're ready to take on Xemnas. If I'm going to die, I'm going to make sure we're both satisfied beforehand."

Yeah, definitely a creepier version of Axel.

"Wonderful, while you two do that, I'll just take Sora with me. I'm sure Axel will suffice for your exhibitionistic needs," Riku commented, turning away from the disgruntled-looking Vexen and smirking Marluxia. "Come on."

"I'm not particularly interested in seeing Mister tall, pink, and girly fucking Vexen's bony ass into a table." Axel rolled his eyes. "Besides, I don't think the kid wants to leave."

Sora stubbornly looked down at the ground as he felt Riku looking at him in confusion. He didn't want to leave without Roxas. He wasn't entirely sure why Riku suddenly wanted to get him out of here so badly, but it was going to have to wait until Roxas had also woken up from his Mark of Mastery. How much longer could it possibly take?

"Sora?" He glanced up as Riku put a hand on his shoulder. Riku was looking at him with a slight frown on his face, obviously confused. "Don't you want to get out of here?"

Sora looked back at Roxas, refusing to move. With the darkness still trying to suffocate him, he really did want to leave. He still had trouble breathing properly, and the oppressive feeling was not something he wanted to feel. He still didn't want to leave Roxas, though. "Roxas might wake up soon…"

From the corner of his eyes he could see Riku and Axel looking at each other briefly. "Roxas… is having a bit more trouble with his test," Riku said slowly. "It'll probably take him a while before he wakes up."

Sora's head shot up and he looked from Riku to Roxas worriedly. "Is he failing?" He wasn't going to lie. When the voice had asked him if he'd wanted to forget he'd ever had friends or a family, he'd been more than a little tempted to take the offer. Roxas' test might be different, but the temptation would be just as great.

"It's too early to say." Riku pulled on his shoulder gently, trying to pry him away from Roxas now that he'd already let go slightly. "But it's going to take him a while to wake up even if he does pass. You're going to start attracting Heartless soon, so we should go."

"But, if he fails then…" Sora felt almost like he had by the end of his Mark of Mastery, his breathing becoming uneven and his body starting to shake slightly again. He didn't want to lose Roxas — not again. Although they'd been warned beforehand that remaining in the trance was a strong possibility, it hadn't actually seemed this real until now. He'd been so busy with saving Kairi, he hadn't fully considered what would happen if one of them — or both of them — failed to pass their Mark of Mastery.

"He'll pass." Sora looked up at Axel in surprise, the redhead's voice not showing the slightest hint of doubt. Axel grinned back at him confidently. "He's too stubborn to fail something like this, you know that. Just give him some time and he'll be right back to hitting me with his keyblades."

Sora stared at Axel for a moment before nodding slowly, his body relaxing and his breathing evening out again. He let Riku pull him to his feet, vaguely noticing Vexen fighting Marluxia off and staring at the three of them intently. Before he could really make anything of it, Riku had already pulled him through a Dark Corridor and the portal leading back to his own realm.

The moment they exited the portal, the oppressive feeling disappeared completely. Sora took a deep breath of air, his breathing becoming normal once again. Although he still hated the fact that he'd had to leave Roxas behind, he really was grateful that Riku had dragged him out of the Realm of Darkness.

His attention was drawn back to Riku as he pulled his hand free and opened up a new Dark Corridor to take them back to the camp. He bit his lip as he resisted the urge to grab Riku's hand back, reminding himself for the umpteenth time that that the Mark of Mastery was over. He wasn't going to forget about people anymore, and no one was going to disappear on him.

As they both stepped through the Dark Corridor, ending up in the by now familiar common room, Riku turned to him with that hint of worry once more in his eyes. He motioned towards the bedroom Sora had been using. "You should get some actual sleep. Your body might've gotten quite some rest already, but your mind probably hasn't."

Sora bit his lip, glancing at the door to his bedroom and then back at Riku. He did feel tired, but he wasn't particularly fond of the idea of being alone right now. He looked down at the ground, mumbling his next question, "Could you stay with me?"

There was a moment of silence, and Sora half expected Riku to not even have heard the question. Then Riku turned towards the door, holding it open for him as he looked back. "Come on, then."

Sora smiled in relief as he stepped passed Riku, quickly heading over to his bed and sitting down on it. He watched as Riku hesitated for a moment before coming over and sitting down next to him. "Go get some rest, and I'll wake you up when Roxas gets back."

Sora nodded, trying to push his worries to the side for the time being. Roxas would pass his Mark of Mastery. They would go and save Kairi. Xemnas would be beaten. He just needed to believe in that all for now.

He was about to lie down when he paused, looking at Riku curiously. There was still one thing that he'd really like to know before he went to sleep. It wasn't really something he was worrying about, but something he'd just really like to know the answer to. Riku hadn't seemed in any kind of hurry to get him out of the Realm of Darkness until he'd mentioned how oppressive it had felt. He might've said it was so he wouldn't attract any Heartless, but Vexen had seemed less than convinced. Had Riku actually cared about how he'd felt in the Realm of Darkness as Vexen had suggested?

"Why are you staring at me?" Riku shifted uncomfortably where he sat, meeting Sora's gaze unsurely.

"I was just…" Sora bit his lip. "Why did you suddenly want to get me out of the Realm of Darkness after I told you how it was making me feel?"

Riku raised an eyebrow in confusion, turning to Sora more fully. "Like I told Vexen, the Heartless—"

"Riku." Sora crossed his arms.

Riku sighed, "Fine, before Vexen gave me that potion to get a better keyblade, I had both light and darkness as elements. I lived in the Realm of Darkness for years with that oppressive feeling, and I wasn't even a Keyblade Master at the time. The more Xemnas taught me how to control my elements, the more the light I still had in me at the time grew, and the more oppressive the feeling became. I just…," Riku looked away at a wall, "I didn't want you to feel that as long as you didn't have to."

"Roxas will probably feel the same when he wakes up," Sora pointed out, his heart rate picking up slightly at Riku's answer.

"I'm sure Axel will get him out of there," Riku shrugged.

Sora bit his lip, glad he'd gotten the answer he'd hoped for even if he wasn't too happy with how little Riku cared about Roxas. "So Vexen was right and you do care about me?"

Riku didn't answer for a moment, eyes staying focussed on the wall he'd been looking at for a while now, before deciding to ignore Sora's question entirely. "You need to sleep."

Sora hesitated for a moment before deciding a complete change of subject was about as much confirmation as he was going to get from Riku. He leaned forward, Riku glancing at him in surprise as he came closer, and pressed his lips to Riku's. He pulled away quickly, looking down at the bed as he waited for a response of any kind.

There was silence, and Sora glanced up hesitantly as nothing happened. He could see Riku still staring at him in surprise. For a moment he could've sworn he saw Riku lean towards him before he jerked away, his face going blank. "Don't do that again."

Sora's gaze lowered again, his heart sinking in his chest. "Sorry," he whispered in disappointment. Well, at least he had his answer now.

He heard Riku sigh next to him, and glanced over to see the blank expression slowly fading from Riku's face. Sora looked away again, staying silent and hoping Riku would just ignore what had happened.

"Stop beating yourself up." He looked back in confusion.

"What?"

Riku sighed again, running a hand through his hair. "You're not supposed to beat yourself up. That's my thing."

"It's your thing to beat me up?" Sora continued to look at Riku in confusion. What was he talking about?

Riku shook his head, glaring half-heartedly at him. "No, it's my thing to beat myself up. "

Sora shook his head. "You just rejected me and I'm not allowed to mope about it?"

"That's right."

Sora looked back in shock, then glared, "I can't turn my emotions off like you can."

"That's not what I meant." Riku muttered, frustration colouring his voice.

"Then what do you mean? Because you're not making a lot of sense." Sora glared back down at the bed.

"You're not supposed to mope about a guy who insulted you in the beginning, could've gotten you killed, and can switch off his emotions whenever he wants to."

Sora's head flew back up to look at Riku, the other being the one glaring down at the bed this time. He'd been so happy that Riku had finally joined them that he'd almost forgotten about the self-loathing look he'd seen in Riku's eyes multiple times. Now that he knew what had happened to Riku, Sora could actually place the looks. As much as Riku wanted to get rid of Xemnas, he couldn't be too happy about the way he'd been raised.

"You can be a really stupid person at times, did you know that?" Sora shook his head. Riku looked back up at him in confusion and indignation, but Sora ignored the look. He was going to put an end to at least part of Riku's inferiority complex right now. "Riku, I like you." He leaned in slightly closer.

Riku shook his head, leaning away. "Sora—"

"Unless you're going to say you just don't like me back, shut up."

Riku's eyes narrowed slightly at the words, but he stayed silent. Sora leaned closer once more, and this time Riku didn't lean away from him.

They simply stared at each other for a while before Riku hesitantly leaned forward, brushing their lips together once more. He pulled away, watching Sora carefully for another moment before deciding that Sora wasn't going to give up on this, and anything bad that might happen was his own fault now. He leaned forward once more, pressing their lips together more firmly this time.

Sora pressed back, his arms wrapping around Riku's neck automatically as Riku's arms wrapped around his waist to pull him closer. The silver-haired teen bit his lower lip gently and Sora eagerly opened his mouth to let him in.

The next thing Sora knew, he was on his back on the bed, Riku hovering over him and kissing him deeply. He pulled away after a few seconds, breathing slightly heavier than usual. "How badly would Roxas kill me if he found us like this?"

"He'd try and murder you as painfully as possible until I told him to stop. Then he'd glare at you murderously before leaving to wreck something." Sora couldn't help but grin, trying to pull Riku back down. Riku chuckled at his answer, though he didn't let Sora pull him back down.

"You really should get some sleep."

"Later." Sora pulled more forcefully, Riku allowing himself to be pulled down this time. He'd worry about sleeping and everything else later. Right now he didn't care about how tired he might be, or how badly he might need to rest. For the time being, he fully intended to just enjoy Riku kissing him.

And possibly anything else that came of it.

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><p><strong>I'm sure you can all come up with what happens after that XD Yes! One couple down and one more to go! Let's see how long Roxas can last, shall we? °grins° Well, I hope everyone enjoyed and it'll see you all next week. Review guys!<strong>


	18. Something About a Theory

**Almighty, to Roxas waking up and beyond! I apologize in advance for everything that's in this chapter and that was already in the last chapter as well. Don't worry though, there's plenty of things in here that'll no doubt make you all happy. R&R guys.  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 18 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About a Theory **

Despite his plan to try and murder Axel as soon as he'd woken up, something entirely different demanded Roxas' attention as soon as he came back to awareness. The light inside of him, only vaguely present before, now felt like it was flowing through his entire body. The smug satisfaction he should have been feeling at being able to tell Riku he could now feel it so clearly was less than present as the darkness around him instantly tried to strangle the life out of it.

Roxas' eyes snapped open, his hands reaching for his chest as he actually tried to get closer to the heat he'd previously been so annoyed at. Why in the world did it feel like the very air around him was trying to suffocate him? When he preferred Axel holding him over something else, things were pretty bad.

"I knew you'd see it my way sooner or later." Roxas glanced up, reconsidering his previous thought. To his great annoyance, a flirting Axel was still better. Axel's heat was oddly soothing and seemed to make the effects of the Realm of Darkness lessen. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud. "Didn't I tell you not to touch me while I was unconscious?"

Axel grinned down at him. "When have I ever listened to any threats you've made?"

"The minute we get out of this lab, I'm throwing keyblades at you again." Roxas' eyebrow twitched.

"I'll just have to keep you here, then." Axel's grin turned smug.

"I hate you." Roxas crossed his arms stubbornly, glancing around briefly to try and see if Sora had already woken up. He frowned in confusion as he saw that Axel and he were the only ones in the room. "Where's Sora? Or Vexen, for that matter. Didn't he want to know as much as possible about the Mark of Mastery?"

"Sora already woke up and Riku took him back to the Destiny Islands. He woke up grabbing at his chest too, so you should know better than I do why Silverlocks got him out of here as quickly as possible. As for Vexen," Axel glanced towards the door with an amused look on his face, "Marluxia came back and dragged Vexen off to have sex. They've been gone for quite some time now."

Roxas glanced at the door as well, slightly disturbed that someone had managed to drag Vexen off. From everything Riku had told him, as well as from what he'd seen of the man, Vexen's research meant the world to him. "Wonderful, someone who's just as perverted as you. Can we get out of here before they get back? I feel like I'm going to suffocate if I stick around here."

"Sorry, I have orders to keep you here until Vexen gets back. Riku dragged Sora off before Vexen could ask everything he wanted, so he wants you to answer his questions now." Axel's arms tightened around him and the redhead smirked down at him smugly. "Besides, I've got you all to myself until Vexen gets back, and you can't throw any keyblades at me as long as we're in here."

Never mind; the darkness _was _preferable over Axel.

He elbowed Axel hard, escaping from his grasp as he groaned in pain. Roxas crossed his arms, glaring down at Axel in annoyance. "I can do more than throw keyblades at you. Now, if I'm going to be stuck here until Vexen is done, tell me what Sora's test was like. I assume Vexen got that much out of him before Riku dragged him off."

"Yeah, but you're probably not going to like hearing about it." Axel rubbed the spot Roxas had hit, frowning slightly before explaining how Sora had woken up, and what he'd said about his test.

The moment Axel mentioned what Sora had gone through during his Mark of Mastery, Roxas turned to leave the lab. He'd come back to tell Vexen what had happened later. He was worried about Sora, and he wasn't just going to sit around, waiting for Vexen to get laid.

Just as he reached the door and was about to turn around to ask what Axel was waiting for — he needed the redhead to get him back to the portal, after all — he bumped into someone. He looked up at the figure, jumping back and summoning his keyblades instantly as he saw someone standing there that he didn't recognise. "Who the hell are you?"

The man — woman? — in front of him raised an eyebrow before giving him an amused look. "Well, you're definitely more aggressive than your ancestor."

"I told you." Axel chuckled, appearing behind Roxas and wrapping his arms around him. Roxas twitched, elbowing the redhead once again. "Let _go_, damn it!"

Roxas ignored Axel's pout, looking back at the newcomer warily, "Now, who are you, and what ancestor are you talking about?"

The man watched Axel in amusement as he spoke, "I'm Marluxia, and I saved your great-grandfather Ventus from being killed by Xemnas when the keyblade clan was attacked."

Wonderful, if this was Marluxia then Vexen was probably not far behind. He wasn't going to get to go to Sora any time soon, most likely.

As expected, Vexen passed Marluxia and glared at the pink-haired male in annoyance. "Because of you, I was unable to see him wake up." As Marluxia did not seem the least bit fazed by his glare, Vexen turned to Roxas. His eyes were instantly drawn to the keyblades in Roxas' hands, and he frowning slightly at them. "Your keyblades did not change?"

Roxas glanced down at them, his annoyance growing as he saw that, just like during the test, the only difference between these and his old ones was the reversed colour scheme. He let the two keys vanish, in no mood to look at them. "The colours switched around. Apparently you only get entirely new keyblades when you like risking your life by fighting demons with giant keys."

Vexen passed him, walking to a nearby table and grabbing a pen and a notebook. "Tell me what happened during your Mark of Mastery in as much detail as possible."

Roxas sighed, not too happy that he'd be stuck in the Realm of Darkness. Regardless, he started explaining exactly what had happened, starting with the nightmare that had woken him up, and ending on everything the disembodied voice had said to him. By the time he'd finished, Vexen had turned to a new page of his notebook at least a dozen times, if not more.

There was a moment of silence as Vexen flipped through all the notes he'd made, before pausing and raising an eyebrow, "On the platform, you say there was an image of Axel, but not of Riku?"

"Yeah," Roxas crossed his arms, "why?"

"Those images appear to show people you care about, Vexen switched to a different notebook, making a few quick notes in that one, "The fact that Axel would be represented whereas Riku is not…"

Roxas _knew_ Axel was smirking at him as Vexen spoke without even having to look. His fists clenched as he resisted the urge to summon his keyblades back to his hands, reminding himself that he'd promised not to throw them at Axel as long as he was in the lab. "That's ridiculous. Axel annoys the hell out of me."

Vexen glanced up at him, his gaze shifting to Axel for a brief moment before he looked back down at his notebook again. "Then why would he be shown in a place that represents your heart?"

Roxas knew the answer to that question, even if he didn't want to know it. He could practically feel the smirk on Axel's face grow as he stayed silent, only frustrating him further.

By god did he want to wreck something right now.

"It is a shame I will most likely never be able to confirm my theory, but I suppose this will have to do." Vexen continued to put down another few notes, scanning over them intently as he finished.

"A theory about what?" Roxas glared at the man, too curious to let the feeling that he was digging his own grave with this question stop him. What in the world had Vexen just confirmed with the knowledge that Axel had been represented in that weird place?

"He doesn't like explaining things to people of 'limited mental capabilities'," Axel snorted, "He still hasn't explained to me why he thinks I'm capable of caring about people."

"Only about Roxas, actually," Vexen tapped his pen on the notebook thoughtfully, "and I suspect Roxas' mental capabilities to be less limited than yours."

Roxas wasn't entirely sure if he should take that as a compliment or as an insult.

"Axel's a Nobody. He can't care." He crossed his arms, stubbornly ignoring how much saying that bothered him.

"And yet he saved you from being impaled in Arabia, being wounded himself in the process." Vexen looked over at Axel with a raised eyebrow. "I assume you knew you were going to be wounded, and could potentially even be killed yourself if you couldn't rid yourself of those Heartless fast enough?"

"I guess." Axel frowned. "I wasn't really thinking when I did that."

"How surprising, you and not thinking." Roxas snorted.

Vexen's pen moved over the pages of the notebook once more before he continued to speak, "A Nobody isn't supposed to instinctively want to protect someone. That instinct should only be able to exist in those who care about others. Regardless of whether my current theory is correct or not, Axel most definitely can care, though it seems limited to just you." Roxas glared at the man again as he looked over at him.

"While you were unconscious, I ran several tests on the two of you—"

"You did _what_?" Roxas growled out. He'd already been worried about what Axel might've done to him while he'd been unconscious. Now he had to worry about what Vexen might've done to him too?

That voice was definitely going to have to wait a long time before he'd start to appreciate his damned keyblades. Getting molested by Nobodies was not something he'd had to worry about until his damned keyblades had appeared.

"I ran tests." Vexen gave him an impatient look for being interrupted. "I did not have enough data from just what Riku had told me. If you are worried about what I might have done to you; Axel would barely let me touch you. He threatened to burn down my laboratory if I did anything you would not have approved of."

Roxas blinked, looking over at Axel in stunned surprise. Axel had actually kept Vexen from doing anything weird to him? "No way."

Axel smirked at him smugly, "I'll add it to your debt."

Roxas tried to glare at the redhead, but knew it looked half-hearted. "Fine, you'll get a big cookie, then."

He ignored the pout on Axel's face and turned back to Vexen. "So what did those tests tell you?"

Vexen's pen was once again moving over the notebook rapidly, continuing even as he answered, "Many things, most of which you can never hope to understand. It would be a waste of my time to explain everything to you, especially since I doubt you have any real interest in the tests themselves. The theory I put together afterwards is what you are truly interested in."

"Fine, what theory did you come up with?" Roxas rolled his eyes.

Vexen frowned, no doubt trying to put his theory in a way that Roxas could understand. As no answer came from him, Marluxia answered instead. There was an amused smirk on his face as he spoke, "Have you ever heard of the expression, 'to give your heart to someone'?"

It took Roxas several long moments before he understood what Marluxia was getting at. When he did, his eyes narrowed on the pink-haired man before he turned to face Axel. "Dark Corridor, now. We're leaving."

Axel was still looking at Marluxia in confusion. Obviously he hadn't figured it out yet, and was still wondering why Marluxia had randomly thrown an expression at them. "I don't get it."

"Let's keep it that way," Roxas grumbled, wishing he'd listened to the feeling that had told him ahead of time that asking about this was a bad idea, "We're leaving."

Axel frowned at him in confusion before shrugging, deciding he didn't care enough. He looked back at Marluxia with a raised eyebrow. "Are you coming along already, or were you not done with Vexen yet?"

Roxas frowned. "He's coming along?"

"Yes, I want to defeat Xemnas as badly as you do, so I've decided to lend you my superior skills in this fight." Marlixia smirked before his face turned serious. "Though I think you'll want to get some rest like your brother before we go and challenge Xemnas. He's not someone we should underestimate. I think I can manage to entertain myself here until you're all ready." Despite how serious his tone was, his gaze shot over to Vexen as he spoke the last part with a lecherous glint in them.

Roxas would've objected and said that he'd just had enough sleep, but getting some actual rest didn't sound bad. He felt tired despite all the rest he should've just gotten, and he wanted to go and see how Sora was doing. He didn't want to leave Kairi in the Realm of Darkness, especially since he could now feel what she was probably going through, but dying while trying to save her wouldn't do her any good.

Plus, he _really_ wanted to get away from Vexen before the man decided it would be interesting to see what Axel would do after he actually understood his little theory.

"Whatever, just as long as I can get out of here." He turned back to Axel, the redhead opening up a Dark Corridor and making a mocking bow. "As you wish, sir."

Roxas rolled his eyes, stepping through the Dark Corridor nonetheless. As soon as he stepped through the portal back to his own realm, all the pressure that had been surrounding him left. Roxas took a deep breath, glad to be out of there even if it was only until they'd have to go back and save Kairi. He honestly wondered how he was supposed to fight properly with that suffocating feeling constantly suppressing his power, but even with the darkness limiting his powers he was probably stronger than he'd been before his Mark of Mastery.

As Axel stepped through the portal as well, Roxas glanced at him curiously. Although he hadn't been able to sense it while he'd been in the Realm of Darkness, he could now clearly sense a dark power inside of Axel. There was a part of him that immediately warned him to get away from it, telling him that anything that had that much darkness in it was going to try and hurt him. Roxas pushed that part away, rolling his eyes as he ignored the wary feeling entirely. It was a bit late now to start warning him for Axel.

As Axel and he entered the campgrounds, his attention was drawn to the building they were using. Inside, he could clearly sense a source of light — though a different light from what Kairi had felt like — as well as a very… chaotic, second power. The source of light was obviously Sora, which meant the other source had to be Riku. Even though Axel had mentioned before that Riku's power felt chaotic, as if it was constantly fighting with itself, Roxas hadn't really taken it very serious. Now that he could feel it for himself, though, he understood what Axel had meant.

Axel glanced at him as he stopped walking, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "What's wrong?"

Roxas shook his head, continuing to walk towards the house again. "I take it back, I don't want Riku's power."

Axel chuckled, grinning widely. "I told you. Try accepting your own power a bit more and you might get a keyblade like his without feeling like that."

The words the disembodied voice had spoken came back to him once more, and Roxas' eyebrow twitched. He needed to see a positive side to this entire situation to accept it. He needed to accept it before he could get a weapon that looked like it could actually hurt someone. Getting a weapon that looked like it could actually hurt someone might make him start to like his weapon a bit more. Liking his weapon a bit more could be something positive in this entire situation.

Obviously that infinite circle wasn't going to get him anywhere. He needed something else if he wanted to get his full powers. Despite the fact that he really wished none of this had happened to him, he knew he was stuck with it. His Mark of Mastery had made it more than clear that as long as he could help people, he would. Plus, he needed his full power for when they faced Xemnas. He really needed to find something positive.

As they entered the building, Roxas glanced around for Sora. He was expecting to see his brother curled up in the corner of a couch, resisting the urge to pounce on Riku for a hug. After the test Sora had gone through, he probably wanted to stay as close to the people around him as possible. Spotting neither of the two, Roxas continued on towards the bedroom, guessing Sora was still resting if he wasn't here. He threw a glare over his shoulder as Axel followed him. "You've molested me enough for one day. Go entertain yourself with something else."

Axel pouted, crossing his arms as he stopped following Roxas. "You didn't seem to mind after you woke up."

"Obviously I hadn't woken up enough yet," Roxas shot back, turning back to the door to the bedroom and opening it. He'd deal with Axel and Vexen's theory after he'd gotten some sleep. The fact that he couldn't come up with a better explanation was obviously a sign that he needed sleep. He was sure that he'd be able to come up with a better theory after his mind had rested.

He stopped dead in his tracks as he stepped into the bedroom, staring blankly at the sight in front of him. Sora was lying curled up against Riku, fast asleep. Riku was staring at Sora thoughtfully, not even having noticing Roxas entering. Both looked distinctly dishevelled, and it really wasn't that hard to guess what they'd been doing before Sora had gone to sleep. Roxas supposed he was lucky both were fully clothed at the moment. He probably shouldn't have come in any earlier, though.

Roxas wasn't entirely sure if he should be trying to kill Riku for getting together with Sora, or for taking so damned long to do it.

He closed the door behind him, the sound finally snapping Riku out of his thoughts and making him look up. The startled look disappeared from his eyes as he saw Roxas, instead replaced by the calm expression he always wore. The aura around him changed from calm to wary, no doubt expecting Roxas to attack him at any moment. "Should I start watching out for flying keyblades?"

Roxas snorted. "Depends, were you planning on ditching him within the next few weeks?"

Riku shook his head. "He wouldn't let me even if I tried. He told me to shut up when I tried to reject him."

Roxas frowned in confusion. "Why did you try to reject him? For as far as I could see, you were falling for him."

Riku simply shrugged, not bothering to answer the question. Instead, the wary aura subsided, and Riku seemed to relax. He looked back down at Sora and shook the brunet, but Sora only snuggled closer to him without waking up. After several more attempts, each one amusing Roxas more, Riku looked back up at him. "I told him I'd wake him up once you got back. Any idea how I'm supposed to accomplish that?"

Roxas chuckled, walking over to the bed next to Sora's and sitting down. "That's easy, you have to give him the right motivation. Hey Sora, Riku's under the shower and the door's not locked."

Roxas could see Riku rolling his eyes, not expecting anything to happen. The exasperated look quickly turned to one of stunned surprise as Sora's eyes snapped open and he shot up in bed, looking around dazedly. "What?"

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? That's all it takes?"

"Like I said, he just needs the right motivation to wake up," Roxas smirked.

Sora blinked in confusion for a moment before his mind caught up with the situation. Instead of the pout Roxas had expected, Sora tackled him, pinning him to the bed in a hug. "Roxas! You made it!"

Roxas would've hit Sora and told him not to be such an idiot, but knew all too well he'd actually been very close to failing his Mark of Mastery. Instead, he merely sighed in mock-exasperation. "Honestly, was there ever any doubt?"

Sora pulled away slightly, grinning at him widely. "Riku and Axel said you were having trouble."

Roxas snorted. "Yeah, but staying unconscious would've given Axel free rein, and I just couldn't let that happen."

Sora's grin widened and he made himself comfortable, sighing contently. "You would've only minded because you'd much rather be conscious for that."

"Shut up." Roxas hit Sora on the head, only making Sora laugh at him.

Riku got up off the other bed, Sora glancing up at him as if only now remembering that he was there, and blushed as he remembered how Roxas had woken him up. "Riku?"

"I'll let you two catch up and get some more rest." He glanced over his shoulder, an amused smile on his face. "You were wrong, by the way. He didn't try to kill me."

Sora blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Roxas didn't try to kill me when he found us." It took another moment before the words made sense to Sora. The brunet looked back at Roxas apprehensively as they finally did. "You… didn't?"

Roxas shrugged, glancing over at Riku for a moment before answering. "I'll kill him if he ever dumps you."

Sora smiled at him, albeit somewhat nervously. The brunet knew that was more of a threat than a joke. Riku looked at him for a moment, no doubt having caught the threat in the words as well, before shrugging and leaving the room. Apparently he wasn't too worried about the threat. Either he was fully confident that he could beat Roxas, or he really wasn't planning on breaking up with Sora any time soon.

Once again, Roxas wasn't entirely sure if he did or didn't like the latter option.

Shaking his head, Roxas focused back on Sora, deciding to think on that one later as well. There were far more important things right now. "So, Mark of Mastery?"

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><p><strong>For anyone who didn't understand Marly's explanation of Vexen's theory; take 'to give someone your heart' as literal as possible, without physically cutting out your heart and handing it over to someone else. If Roxas 'gave his heart' to Axel, Axel would have some extra emotional range. That would allow him to actually care for Roxas.<strong>

**Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, and next week we'll **_**finally**_** get to rescuing Kairi.**

**Again.**

**See you all next week and review guys!**


	19. Something About an Attack

**This chapter was an absolute bitch to write °grumbles°**** and sadly, I only see the upcoming chapters being even bitchier. I hate writing fights, so yeah. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys and R&R.  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 19 :-**_-_**  
><strong>** Something About an Attack**

"Seriously? You want to train us more _now_ of all times?" Roxas crossed his arms, glaring at Riku in annoyance. After he and Sora had woken up, they'd fully intended to go and rescue Kairi as soon as possible. Now, however, it seemed that Riku thought they should train more before trying anything.

Riku merely rolled his eyes at him, not fazed in the slightest by his glare as per usual. "I'm not going to train you. I just want to see if you can bring out your elemental magic now. Both of you say you can clearly feel it, so maybe you can bring it out too."

"It took us two days before we could sense our magic in the first place, though." Sora frowned. "Won't this take us just as long?"

"If you want to learn how to fully control it, yes. It would take you far longer than just two days, in fact. Just learning how to bring it out doesn't have to take long, though." Riku shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm sure bringing out a magic we can't control properly will do wonders during the fight with Xemnas. Who cares if we end up hitting each other?" Roxas snorted, sarcasm dripping off his every word.

Riku rolled his eyes once more, and crossed his arms. "There are more than enough attacks that can only be used at close range. Whether you control it or not, a close-range attack will most likely hit Xemnas if you time it properly. Besides," he cut Roxas off as his mouth opened for another protest, "there's no harm in seeing what will happen. At most you're going to kill a few trees."

Roxas glanced over at the forest, remembering his first night on the island in there. Killing a few trees and shrinking down the forest a bit sounded pretty good. It would also allow him to get rid of some of his frustration at _still_ not being able to come up with a better theory about Axel than Vexen's.

"Fine, but I'm making sure I'm taking down some trees in that case," he grumbled, starting to walk towards the clearing they'd played Struggle in. It was close enough to the trees that he'd probably destroy a few without having to try very hard.

"If you want to get rid of the forest, I could just burn it down for you." Axel grinned, following him and letting a few flames run down his arms. "Really, I wouldn't mind."

"You'd probably end up burning down everything on the island." Roxas glanced back at the redhead pointedly. "Besides, I want to wreck them. I'm trying not to throw any keyblades at your head since we'll be fighting Xemnas soon, so I need something else."

Roxas was very happy that Sora was walking behind Axel as the brunet bit his lip to hold back his laughter. While they'd been talking about what had happened during their Mark of Masteries, the subject of Vexen's theory had also come up. Roxas had grudgingly told Sora what Marluxia had told him, and Sora had picked up on the meaning behind the expression even faster than he himself had. Combined with how well Sora knew him, Roxas was sure his brother knew all too well how frustratingly right the theory probably was.

"I'm not sure if I should feel used or loved." Axel chuckled, obviously amused. "Then again, I know you care about me deep down—"

Roxas' fists clenched and he had to resist the urge to summon his keyblades.

"—so I think I'll stick with loved."

"If the married couple could stop arguing for a second?" Roxas turned his glare onto Riku, but once more the other just ignored it. They'd stopped walking and were standing in the middle of the clearing. "Thank you. Now, summon your keyblades and pay attention to what your elemental magic does while you summon them."

Roxas and Sora glanced at each other in confusion for a moment, before shrugging and doing as they'd been told. As his keyblades appeared in his hands, Roxas could feel his magic spark, actually taking the shape of the keyblades in his hands very briefly before the weapons appeared. He looked down at the keys curiously, before glancing over at Sora again. His brother was wearing a very similar expression to his as he stared down at his keyblade.

"From the looks on your faces, you've probably noticed that your light magic actually comes out and forms the keyblades as they're summoned." Riku looked rather pleased that his explanations were actually making sense, despite the fact that he'd never tried to teach anyone any of this. "Your magic is already brought out when you summon your keyblades. If you can recreate the spark you feel without actually summoning your keyblades, you can bring out your magic in a different form. The attack it forms is different for everyone. Two people with the same element will most likely have completely different attacks. You can learn how to use your magic in different ways to form other attacks, but the first attack you do will always feel most natural to you."

"And this is supposed to be easy?" Sora looked back up at Riku with a frown. "That sounds about as complicated to figure out as when you told us to find out where our magic was coming from."

"Trust me, it's easier than it sounds." Riku took a few steps away from them to give them some room. "Summon your keyblades a few times so you can feel what your magic does. Stand a bit further apart and face away from one another so you don't end up accidentally hitting each other, and just try it."

With another glance at one another, Roxas walked further towards the forest, still intending to kill some trees while trying this. He summoned his keyblades a few times, trying to figure out what exactly he did to make his magic form the weapons, before taking a deep breath and trying to recreate the feeling without letting the keyblades appear in his hands.

The magic inside of him stirred, though it refused to spark the way it did when he summoned his keyblades. It took several more tries before he managed to make it do what he wanted, though his control was minimal at best. Regardless, he grinned as the magic finally came forth, and a faint glow started to surround him.

He glanced up in surprise as the faint glow took on the shape of several pillars of light that were surrounding him. The glow intensified for a moment, the pillars becoming more solid, only for them to dissipate into a misty cloud before anything could happen.

Roxas frowned in disappointment as the light faded, turning to Riku to ask what had gone wrong. Before he could ask anything, though, his attention was drawn towards a bright light next to him.

Beams of light had appeared around Sora in a wide circle, shooting up from the ground and lighting up the field they were on. As Roxas stared at the beams in amazement, the light they were giving off intensified, forcing Roxas to shield his eyes against the brightness, until the beams disappeared in a flash.

There was a long moment of silence as Sora fell to his knees and panted. Never one to let a silence go on for too long, Axel was the first to speak up, "Remind me not to piss him off."

Roxas glanced over at where Riku and Axel were standing, forcing his eyes to adjust to the darkness surrounding them. Both had taken several steps backwards even though Sora's attack wouldn't have hit them where they'd been standing before. They were looking at Sora rather apprehensively, though the glint of smug satisfaction and pride in Riku's eyes as he walked over to Sora was unmistakeable.

"Well, one doesn't have enough power to pull off an attack yet, the other is overly enthusiastic and puts too much energy into them."

"What do you mean, I don't have enough power?" Roxas frowned and crossed his arms. "You said this would be easy because we had so much magic inside of us."

"And for the true Keyblade Master it was easy." Riku held out his hand to help Sora to his feet. "Axel told me about what happened when you got your keyblades. The voice said you weren't going to get your full powers until you accepted the fact that you're a Keyblade Master."

"So Roxas has less power than me, and can't do any attacks yet?" Sora let Riku help him up, turning to Roxas and grinning at him. "I guess I'm the stronger one for a change."

"But didn't children used to learn how to use their magic? Why wouldn't I be able to do it?" Roxas grumbled, frustration once again returning. There went another thing that he might've been able to see as a positive thing.

"Those children needed weeks of training to bring out their power. The only reason why I thought you two might be able to do it without that training is because your magic has obviously grown since becoming masters. I figured there might be enough magic to bring it out like a Nobody can when they've only just transformed." Riku shrugged before glancing at Sora. "I was right, obviously. But only one of you two is a real master."

Roxas was not used to feeling useless. Now, feeling that way for the first time, he decided he really hated the feeling.

"So the kid can use his magic, Roxy can't. Got it." Axel grinned as he wrapped an arm around Roxas' waist. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

"And up that debt a bit more, I bet." Roxas pushed the arm away, glaring — rather unconvincingly — at Axel. "I won't be able to find a cookie that's big enough at this rate."

"I'm sure you can come up with something else to reward me." Axel smirked in that lecherous way of his. Roxas resisted the urge to once again hit him with a keyblade.

"Yeah, I'll get you two cookies." He turned back to Riku and Sora, ignoring the amused looked on Riku's face, and the fact that Sora was biting his lip to stop himself from laughing once again. "Weren't we leaving to go and save Kairi? I doubt I'm going to learn this in the next five minutes."

"We have to go and get Marluxia first." Riku's features turned serious, all traces of amusement gone. He opened up a Dark Corridor to bring them to the portal, stepping aside to let them all through.

As Roxas entered the Realm of Darkness, the pressuring feeling that he'd been so happy to leave behind last time returned immediately. Next to him he could see Sora glancing around uncomfortably, obviously feeling the same thing. He took a deep breath, trying to relax as much as possible. They were going to have to fight here, so he'd better get used to the suffocating feeling.

When they reached the building Marluxia and Vexen were living in, it didn't really surprise any of them that neither of the two Nobodies was anywhere in sight. It was far more surprising that it only took Marluxia a few minutes to come down the stairs, looking as presentable as ever, despite the moans that they'd clearly heard as they'd entered. How Marluxia had managed to make himself look like he hadn't just been busy with Vexen was beyond Roxas, and quite frankly he didn't really want to know.

"Ready to go," Riku glanced passed the pink-haired Nobody towards the bedroom he'd just come out of, "or were you not done yet?"

Marluxia smiled in that charming way that didn't befit him in the slightest. "Jealousy doesn't become you, but yes, I'm ready."

Riku's eyes very briefly flashed over to Sora, a smug and thoroughly satisfied glint shining in them that made Roxas all too happy again that he hadn't walked in on the two the day before.

"None of you are going anywhere." Vexen, looking the complete opposite of Marluxia, rushed down the stairs as well, eyes focussed on Sora in determination. "I was not done questioning you yet. No one is leaving until I have my data."

Sora smiled nervously at the scientist, glancing over at Riku with a pleading look. Riku barely even had to look at the brunet before he opened a Dark Corridor for them all. "Sorry Vexen, Xemnas comes first."

"I am no fool, Riku. You have no intension of returning after Xemnas is beaten." Vexen's eyes narrowed on the silver-haired teen, looking as if he was trying to force Riku into cooperating with purely the force of his stare.

Riku, completely unaffected by Vexen's gaze, simply motioned for them all to go through the Dark Corridor. "I guess you'll have to do with the information Roxas gave you, then."

There was an instant drop in temperature at Riku's words, only encouraging them to get through the portal faster. Marluxia was the last to step through the Dark Corridor, blowing a kiss in Vexen's direction as he left. This only caused a breeze of ice-cold wind to follow them through the portal. Marluxia was the only one who didn't seem affected in the slightest by the cold. "So, is there an actual plan?"

"Beyond, 'beat up the henchmen and try to get to Xemnas'? Not really." Axel chuckled and started to walk. "Though I doubt we could come up with a much better plan even if we tried. It's not like we can ambush them or anything with two Keyblade Masters around."

"True," Marluxia agreed grudgingly, obviously less than pleased about that little fact.

Roxas glanced around as they walked, taking a moment to recognise the city they'd also gone to when they'd come to free Kairi the first time. He hadn't recognised it at first glance because the damage that had been limited to the buildings closest to the castle before, was now far more wide-spread. He guessed that Xemnas had taken out his frustration on the city the first time they'd saved Kairi. He grimaced at the thought, trying to focus on something other than the amount of damage all around him.

As they approached the castle, a symbol above the main entrance to the castle caught his attention. It was the upside-down version of the symbol he'd seen on the platform after his Mark of Mastery, as well as on one of the folders that Vexen had been looking into before they'd gone into their trance. He frowned at it, remembering that he'd forgotten to ask Vexen about it. "What's that symbol above the doors mean?"

Next to him, Sora looked up at the symbol as well. "Yeah, it's an upside-down version of what was on the weird platform thing during our Mark of Mastery."

"That's the symbol Nobodies use," Axel answered, glancing up above the doors as well before frowning. "I didn't know there was an upside-down version of it as well, though."

"The symbol on your platforms was the one the Keyblade Masters used," Riku filled in, glancing up at the symbol above the doors as well. "I'm not sure where the symbols originally came from, but I've always found it ironic that Nobodies and Keyblade Masters basically use the same symbol."

Roxas would've made a few sarcastic comments, finding it more than a little ironic, but his gaze was drawn to the doors of the castle themselves as he noticed a figure standing there. In front of him, Riku stopped as he also noticed the figure. The figure stepped forward and Roxas could clearly see a man around his thirties — not that that meant a lot when it came to Nobodies — with black dreadlocks looking at them.

"Xaldin," Riku greeted, the chaotic power inside of him starting to spark in preparation of being used.

"Riku," Xaldin greeted in a smooth voice.

"Shouldn't you be convincing a few princesses that it's their destiny to open up Kingdom Hearts for Xemnas?"

"Shouldn't you be trying to kill the Keyblade Masters standing behind you?"

A very brief smile flitted across Riku's face before his features returned to their usual, blank state. Before he could speak again, Marluxia stepped forward. "Since none of you have made a proper plan yet, here's mine. I suggest you all keep going after Xemnas while I take care of Xaldin. There's no point in several of us getting hurt here while I'll most likely be more than capable of defeating him on my own."

"Arrogant, aren't we?" Xaldin commented calmly, not in the slightest bit fazed by Marluxia's boast. "You might've been around longer than I have, but I wouldn't underestimate me if I were you."

"Thankfully, you're not me." Marluxia smiled pleasantly as rose petals suddenly appeared out of seemingly nowhere, twirling around him rapidly as a large scythe with a pink blade and a green handle appeared in his hand.

"It just had to be pink, didn't it?" Roxas grumbled. It still looked like it could do more damage than his keyblades, though.

"Are you sure you can take him on by yourself?" Riku glanced from Xaldin to Marluxia, not letting his guard down for a moment.

"You'll notice soon enough. If I can't beat him, I'm sure he'll come after you again if he manages to kill me." Marluxia shrugged. "But I don't intend to die now that I'm so close to seeing Xemnas fall, so I wouldn't worry too much."

"And you expect me to simply let you all through without trying to stop you?" Xaldin questioned, calmly raising an eyebrow.

Marluxia's pleasant smile simply grew. "I'm not going to give you much of a choice in the matter." Before anyone could react, rose petals once again filled the air. This time they swirled around wildly, forming a dense cloud around Xaldin so he couldn't see a thing. "Go."

They rushed into the castle just as a harsh wind scattered all the petals, several lances floating around Xaldin now. As Roxas glanced outside for a moment, he could see a lot of small cuts littering Xaldin's body. Marluxia's rose petals were obviously more than just girly. They were, apparently, razor-sharp as well.

"So I don't suppose we can just take Kairi and leave without having to beat Xemnas?" Roxas asked, looking ahead of him as they moved away from the entrance doors, and through the freakishly white hallways of the castle.

"He knows we're here." Riku shook his head. "Xaldin wouldn't have been waiting for us at the door otherwise. We might as well go and face him without any of the princesses around. That way we won't have to worry about anyone but us getting hurt."

Riku, Sora, and Axel stopped running abruptly as they reached the bottom of a staircase. Roxas paused as well, looking back at them questioningly. "Why are we stopping?"

"Can't you feel him?" Sora's eyes were glued to the top of the staircase, apprehension filling his eyes.

"Feel who?" Roxas looked up at the top of the staircase in confusion. "I don't feel anyone."

"Xemnas is waiting for us up there." Riku glanced over at Roxas. "You can't feel him?"

Roxas shook his head, his annoyance once more growing at not having his full powers. "I can barely sense you in this place. Sora and the princesses are the only ones I can really feel clearly."

Sora smiled nervously, his eyes still glued to the top of the stairs. "Want to trade? I think I'd prefer not feeling him so clearly."

"Well, it's not going to do us any good just standing here." Axel stepped forward, his body tense despite his nonchalant words. "Let's go meet our doom."

At the top of the stairs was a large room holding absolutely nothing in it. It seemed almost like it had been made for fighting, with plenty of space to move around. In front of the door that lead further into the castle stood Xemnas, patiently waiting for them all to make it into the room. "Welcome, I must thank you for bringing Marluxia with you so I can get rid of everyone still opposing me at once."

Despite the ominous vibe that he could feel even without his full powers, Roxas summoned his keyblades. There was another flash of light next to him, and he knew Sora had done the same. "We weren't planning on going down so easily."

"Death is rarely something you plan for," Xemnas chuckled before his eyes shifted to Riku, who was staring at him apprehensively. "This is your last chance to join me."

Riku snorted at the offer. "I don't think so. Besides, you'd kill me as soon as we were done with this fight anyway so I wouldn't ever be able to betray you again."

"You know me too well." An amused smile crossed Xemnas' face. He held his hands to his sides, darkness seeming to flow from his hands to form his weapons. Although Roxas had expected swords to appear from the shape the darkness had been taking, his cynical side instantly took over as soon as he saw that he'd been wrong.

"… Light sabres? Seriously?"

"Less complaining, more fighting for your life," Riku snapped, his own keyblade appearing in his hand. Instead of his regular keyblade, a different one appeared in a mixture of light and dark magic. Although the blade itself still resembled a demonic wing, it was now straight instead of curved. The guard consisted of a white, angelic wing, and a black, demonic wing. At the top of the blade, a silver wing had appeared to serve as the teeth of the key.

Riku looked down at it in confusion. 'What the…?"

Xemnas' eyes narrowed on the blade as it appeared, his aura growing darker in displeasure. "It seems the light really has claimed you, if even your keyblade is reflecting the change. I was considering leaving you alive, and finding a way to use you after all, but I see that there's no use for that."

And with that, Xemnas rushed forward to kill them.

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><p><strong>For anyone who cares about<strong>** how Marly and Xaldin's fight went, Marly put a curse on Xaldin during a freaking cutscene so Xaldin could only be hit as many times as his level was high. Cuz apparently that's how Marly fights. °twitches° Can anyone tell I've been playing KH2:FM and severely hate Marly's Absent Silhouette fight?**

**Well, I'm completely out of pre-written chapters for this now, and fighting scenes are not my forte. I'm going to do my best to have the next chapter done by next week, but school is starting up so it's going to start demanding my time again. I'd really hate it if I wasn't able to keep updating weekly, but I figured I'd give you guys a fair warning in case I just can't get a chapter done on time. I really will try to stick to weekly updates, though. I hope to see you all next week, and review!**


	20. Something About a Beginning of the End

**So I only barely managed to get this chapter done in time. I finished writing it yesterday, edited it, made my editor edit it, and then edited it again myself only about an hour ago or so. Love me, damn it!**

**Anyway, since all that editing was done quite close together, there's a chance there might be a few more mistakes in the chapter. Normally I try to not look at the chapter for a few days before editing it for a second time. My apologies beforehand for that.**

**Well, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and R&R guys.  
><strong>

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><p><em>-<em>**-: 20 :-**_-_**  
><span>Something About a Beginning of the End<span>**

Despite all the warnings Riku had given them, when Xemnas attacked them he surpassed any expectations Roxas had previously had. Xemnas outclassed them in speed, strength, and would have most likely outdone them in strategy as well if he'd needed any.

As soon as the fight had started, Axel had formed a ring of fire around them to try and stop Xemnas' initial attack. Instead of stopping, Xemnas had rushed through the wall of flames as if he hadn't even noticed it was there. It was obvious — even more so now than in the fight against Larxene — that Axel's power as a Nobody was lacking to the point of other Nobodies dismissing it entirely.

After Xemnas had rushed through Axel's fire, the fight had become quite a bit more chaotic. They'd been forced to separate, trying to attack Xemnas while he seemed to be preoccupied by someone else's attack. Sadly, Xemnas element — presumably darkness, judging from how the man's weapons had appeared — seemed to prefer the shape of thin lasers. Xemnas had learned how to use these lasers without even having to look at what he was aiming for, and made it more than a little difficult to get close enough to even try and hit him. After several attempts to attack Xemnas while his back had been turned, all Roxas had to show for it were several bruises from when he'd been thrown back after blocking the lasers, as well as a few wounds from when he'd been too late to block.

From what he'd been able to see, Sora was having very similar problems, though he wasn't being thrown back whenever he blocked the lasers. Still, the fact that he was brought to a standstill every time he blocked one of the lasers meant Xemnas always had more than enough time to turn to him and parry his keyblade.

The only one who had managed to actually hit Xemnas was Riku. Before now, Roxas had never seen the silver-haired teen fight. The few blows they'd exchanged in Arabia couldn't honestly be called a fight, after all. On top of that, he doubted Riku had honestly been trying to hurt them from what he could see now. Riku was fast, easily keeping up with Xemnas' movements, and even seeming faster at times. Xemnas recovered quickly from any hit Riku managed, though, parrying him almost immediately after and landing several hits of his own.

As Riku was the only one who was able to fight back, most of Xemnas' attention was on him. That was no doubt the only reason they were all still alive. Roxas guessed that if Xemnas had focussed his attention on Axel or on him, they'd have been dead by now. Sora might've stood a better chance, but Roxas doubted his brother would've been able to keep up with Xemnas for very long. Riku was, quite ironically when compared to the last time they'd met Xemnas, keeping them alive.

A fire ball flew past him, and Roxas glanced over his shoulder to see it cancel out a number of laser beams. He grimaced, realising that Xemnas was still taking it easy on them if he was only now showing that he could fire lasers from any given point in the room, not just from where he was standing.

"You're going to owe me a pack of cookies in no time at this rate." Axel appeared next to him, breathing heavily from running all over the field. As it was obvious that his attacks were not going to do anything against Xemnas even if he'd manage to hit the man, he'd been busying himself with trying to cancel out as many of the lasers as possible. His fire balls were much bigger than the thin beams of dark energy, and could easily cancel out multiple at the same time. Roxas really hated the fact that, even though Axel and he should be just about equal in strength now, Axel was still far more useful than he was. All he could do was try and get Xemnas' attention for a short amount of time so Riku might be able to get another hit in.

He _really_ hated feeling useless.

"I hope there's an afterlife and that cookies are sold there, then, because at this rate we won't survive this." Roxas blocked several more lasers, including a few headed for Axel's head.

"Hey, there's always that other form of payment if there aren't any cookies available." Axel grinned, not fazed in the slightest that a laser beam had just almost killed him.

Roxas threw a disbelieving glare up at the redhead. "You're still thinking about sex while we're being _annihilated_?"

Axel chuckled, his grin still firmly set on his face, and seeming completely unconcerned with their situation. "I need some kind of motivation, now don't I?"

Roxas snorted, half annoyed, half amused by Axel's words. "Fine, if we leave this room alive _without_ you having to drag me away from a fight that's going on, you can have whatever reward you want from me. Is that enough motivation for you?"

Axel's already bright eyes seemed to light up even more at his comment. Roxas would've regretted his words at the look in Axel's eyes, except he knew they needed a miracle if they wanted to get out of here alive. Plus, as much as he loved living in denial, he couldn't deny anymore that he did, in fact, have feelings for Axel. Seeing as his main complaint — the fact that Axel couldn't care about him even if he tried — seemed to no longer apply, he doubted he'd be able to resist Axel for much longer anyway.

His attention was drawn back to Xemnas as he heard the man laugh, a volley of lasers forcing both Riku and Sora back. "Three Keyblade Masters and a Nobody, and none of you can truly challenge me. Riku, did you honestly think you'd stand a chance with these three as your allies?"

Riku glared at the man, the hand holding on to his newly reformed keyblade tightening until his knuckles had turned white. "They refused to let me train them properly."

Roxas would've glared at Riku for the comment, but he knew the other was right. Even with everything Riku had told them, Sora and he had refused to wait.

Xemnas chuckled. "If you'd waited any longer, Kingdom Hearts would have been mine by the time you came to stop me. Saïx has been looking for the last princess, and was confident that he knew where you had hidden her when he left not too long ago."

Next to him, Roxas could see Axel's body tense. He glanced aside, surprised that a statement like that would get to the redhead when he'd seemed completely unfazed by the prospect of dying.

"How would you know where I hid her?" Despite his words, Riku's tone was less than certain.

"Can't you guess?" Xemnas raised an amused eyebrow. "Until recently, we saw each other on a daily basis. You might've become wary of me in recent years, but before that you were an open book to me. I know how you think, and it isn't hard to think of the places you would most likely hide someone you'd want to keep from me. Saïx knows you practically as well as I do, so do you honestly expect the princess to be safe?"

A hint of panic flashed through Riku's eyes before he managed to suppress it. When he did push it away, his entire face morphed into the neutral expression he generally wore. The grip on his keyblade did not loosen though, easily giving away the frustration he couldn't switch off.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing we didn't want to wait, then," Sora cut in. "At least now we have a shot at stopping you."

Xemnas released a bark of laughter, obviously amused at Sora's words. "You still think you can beat me? When I sent the Heartless after the Keyblade Clan, I drained every single master of the last of their hearts to ensure they would not come back as Nobodies. I might only have consumed small amounts at a time, but put together I have consumed quite a lot. The hearts of Keyblade Masters give you tremendous power. You cannot hope to defeat me."

"Maybe not," Roxas spoke up, Xemnas turning his head to look at him with a rather unimpressed expression, "but trying to stop you is still better than doing nothing."

Before anyone could answer, a Dark Corridor appeared in the room and a young boy with long, blue hair — why _blue?_ — stepped out. Roxas estimated that the boy was around his age, perhaps slightly younger. He doubted the age of the boy was correct, though. If the Dark Corridor he'd stepped out of hadn't already made it obvious what he was, then the red glow to his skin that Roxas recognised from whenever Axel had gone into the sunlight would have.

The boy only held his attention for a very short amount of time, his gaze quickly being drawn to the figure that was slung over the boy's shoulder. Jasmine was hanging there, unconscious.

Next to him, he could hear Axel curse under his breath.

"Lord Xemnas, I brought you the princess as I promised." The boy didn't even bother to look at any of them, his attention focussed on Xemnas entirely.

Roxas heard Riku curse out loud before he rushed forward, only to be thrown backwards by a screen of darkness that appeared straight in front of him. He landed near Sora, the brunet crouching down to make sure he was still okay. Xemnas hadn't even looked up as the screen had appeared from out of nowhere, his eyes focussed hungrily on Jasmine.

"Well done, Saïx. I'll leave these intruders in your hands, then." Saïx handed the unconscious girl over, his eyes still focussed on Xemnas in what seemed to be reverence. "Of course, leave them to me."

Riku, having gotten back to his feet by now, fired several balls of darkness. The dark screen that had appeared to throw him back once more sprang up, easily deflecting the attacks. Xemnas threw a mocking look at him, the look saying far more than his words could have ever done. Riku glared at him, but was forced to watch as Xemnas opened up a Dark Corridor and left the room.

As the Dark Corridor closed, Saïx finally looked around to take them in. His eyes passed from Riku, to Sora, only to linger as he saw Axel. Roxas could clearly see recognition spark in the other's eyes. When he looked back up at Axel, he could see the same look of recognition reflected in the redhead's eyes.

"I knew you were a magnet for problems, but I don't think you've ever managed to get yourself this much into trouble, Axel."

A wry smile crossed Axel's face. "I don't know, I think the time I got us arrested was pretty bad."

Roxas glanced back and forth between the two, his curiosity once again making him ignore the voice in his head that told him he shouldn't ask after a few moments. "How do you know him?"

"Saïx and I used to be friends when we were still human." Axel said offhandedly, obviously not thinking much of it.

"I think we did more than what friends usually do." An amused smirk pulled at Saïx's lips, and Axel smiled back at him with a nostalgic look on his face.

"True, but you know what I mean."

The spark of jealousy wasn't entirely unexpected, though it was stronger than Roxas had thought it would be. His grip on his keyblades tightened, and he glared at Saïx in dislike. He tried to suppress the feeling, wishing he'd never snapped out of denial for the umpteenth time, but the utter dislike for Saïx did not leave.

Riku's eyes narrowed on Axel in the frustration he'd already been feeling and newfound annoyance. "You didn't think it was important to mention you knew a guy named Saïx? The name isn't exactly common."

Axel shrugged. "You hadn't actually mentioned his name to me before now. I just knew Xemnas still had two other Nobodies working for him, not what their names were."

"Well, now that you know, wouldn't you much rather join me?" Saïx raised an eyebrow, "or do you still insist on clinging to emotions you no longer have?"

"You should be able to tell from my age what my answer to that question is," Axel replied without hesitation. A hint of annoyance appeared in Saïx's eyes, and Roxas guessed that whatever had gone on between the two Nobodies had meant more to Saïx than it had to Axel. It felt incredibly satisfying that Axel would choose them over Saïx, even if he had no part in the reason why.

"Fine, simply leave, then. I would prefer not to have to kill you."

Axel shook his head, smirking as he glanced down at Roxas momentarily. "Nah, Roxy just promised I could do whatever I want to him if we get out of here alive. I'm not leaving when I'm so close to finally having my way with him."

For the first time since he'd met Axel, Roxas didn't feel the urge to hit him with a keyblade after a comment like that. As Saïx's eyes met his, the smug satisfaction he'd already been feeling only grew. He could clearly see the jealousy he himself had felt before reflected in Saïx's eyes, and it pleased him to no end that Axel had chosen him over Saïx despite the background the two Nobodies shared. He smirked smugly at the blue-haired boy, enjoying it immensely as the other's eyes narrowed on him.

Somewhere deep down, a voice in Roxas' head pointed out he was not only being childish, but that he had officially fallen hard enough for Axel that he would get jealous at ex-boyfriend. Roxas very pointedly ignored this voice.

"You always were obsessive when it came to challenges, but I never knew you'd be willing to die for one."

Axel shrugged, once again seeming completely unconcerned with his possible death. "We'll see what happens."

Despite the fact that Roxas knew Saïx had to be as old as Axel, hearing someone who looked younger than he himself was say that they were going to die at his hands was more than a little irritating. Also, although he really did enjoy the annoyance Saïx displayed, he knew they were wasting time. Xemnas had all seven princesses, and had no doubt figured out by now how to open Kingdom Hearts. They couldn't afford to just stand around talking, or even waste time fighting Saïx.

He grimaced, knowing that his next words would probably mean he wasn't going to get out of the castle alive. "Guys, I think we're going to have to take a page from Marluxia's book if we want to stop Xemnas."

Sora caught on to what he meant almost immediately, though Axel and Riku were not far behind. "But, we couldn't even beat Xemnas. Saïx would—"

"I know," Roxas cut his brother off, hoping to keep Saïx as in the dark as possible about what they were discussing. Right now the blue-haired Nobody was looking at them in confusion, frowning as he tried to figure out what they meant. "But if we don't, Xemnas will get to Kingdom Hearts whether we win or not."

Riku glanced from him, to Saïx, to the ceiling where he could no doubt sense Xemnas, and then back at him. He seemed to hesitate for a very brief moment before his desire to stop his father got the better of him. "Sora and I are the only ones who stand the slightest chance at stopping him so…"

Axel was the one to finish his sentence, a glint of glee shining in his eyes as fire started to race down his arms, "We'll be the ones to stay behind!"

Fire exploded across the field, making it impossible to see what was happening. Roxas took a step back, shielding his eyes from the bright light. If Xemnas hadn't rushed through the wall of fire Axel had previously used to try and protect them, Roxas would've thought Saïx couldn't possibly survive this. As it was, though, he just hoped Riku and Sora would be able to get away before Saïx noticed that they were going after Xemnas.

For a brief moment, the flames were all Roxas could see. Then he could see a figure coming at them through the fire, seeming to not notice that he was enveloped by it. Roxas had just enough time to lift one of his keyblades in preparation of whatever weapon Saïx wielded, before he was flung to the side with incredible force. He fell to the ground harshly, wondering vaguely if Saïx hadn't just conjured a car out of nowhere to hit them with. As the flames died out, though, he saw Saïx slam Axel to the centre of the room with the greatest ease, and with nothing but a very oddly-shaped weapon. What in the world Saïx was wielding, Roxas honestly couldn't tell. It looked ridiculous, heavy, highly impractical…

And _still_ cooler than his keyblades.

He stared in utter shock at the blue-haired Nobody for a moment, refusing to believe that he possessed as much strength as he'd just felt slamming into him. He looked like he'd barely hit his mid-teens. There was no way he could be that strong.

Well, at least Riku and Sora had indeed managed to get away. That much of their plan had worked out, at least.

Roxas barely had enough time to get to his feet and hold up both his keyblades in an attempt to block Saïx's next blow, before he found himself hitting a wall that had been quite far away from him previously. He groaned, forcing himself to look up in case Saïx was headed for him again. Saïx was still standing in the spot Roxas had previously been flung to, the calm look on his face replaced by a wild one. Roxas only had a very brief moment to look at him before Saïx rushed at Axel once more, completely ignoring the fireballs Axel shot at him, and actually seeming to cause miniature earthquakes as he ran forward. There was no elegance or even strategy to the blue-haired Nobody's attacks. He just seemed to rush at people, slam his weapon into them, and cause them to fly backwards as if they were as light as a feather.

Not that Saïx seemed to need any kind of strategy. Smashing into things seemed to work very well for him.

Roxas got to his feet, wishing he had an actual elemental attack to throw at Saïx, before rushing at the other while the other was busy hitting Axel around like a rag doll. The moment his first keyblade made contact with Saïx's back, the blue-haired Nobody turned and swung his weapon around, deflecting his second keyblade and pushing him backwards. He took a moment to regain his balance, anticipating the next blow, but still unable to stop himself from flying backwards. He was fairly sure Saïx would've continued to rush at him, but Axel distracted him, and Saïx's attention once more switched to the redhead.

For several minutes, all Axel and he could do was distract Saïx from delivering a finishing blow to one of them. After those few minutes, every part of Roxas' body hurt, and he honestly doubted the bruises that were covering him all over would ever go away, even if they did survive this. They were absolutely no match for Saïx, and Roxas once more cursed the fact that he hadn't been given his complete powers. There was even a part of him, small as it might be, that wished Axel had consumed a heart here and there so he wasn't so horribly underpowered in comparison to every other Nobody around. The other, far greater, part of him rejected the thought, of course, but it was still frustrating to know that Axel might've been able to take on Saïx by himself if he'd only eaten hearts. At the very least they might not be losing as badly as they were now.

During his mental complaint, a thought struck Roxas, distracting him to the point where he didn't block one of Saïx's blows as well as he should have, and he was sent flying across the room — quite literally — and into a wall. He groaned at the pain before forcing his body to keep going as Saïx rushed at him once more. He rolled out of the way, hoping to dodge Saïx for at least a short amount of time while his mind raced with the idea he'd just had.

Right now, neither he nor Axel could ever hope to hit Saïx properly, let alone defeat the blue-haired Nobody. They were simply buying Sora and Riku time in the hope that the two would pull off a miracle and could stop Xemnas. The likelihood of Sora and Riku pulling that off was slim at best, and the chances of them being in time to come and save him and Axel were even slimmer. If they wanted to survive this, they were gong to have to save themselves. Right now there was no way either of them would be able to do that, but there was a rather obvious way for one of them to gain power very quickly.

Axel was a Nobody.

He was a Keyblade Master, despite his incomplete power.

Xemnas had stated that eating the heart of a Keyblade Master increased a Nobody's power tremendously.

At the rate the battle — if it could even be called a battle — was going, both Axel and he would be dead within the next few minutes. However, if he let Axel eat his heart, Axel's power would no doubt increase to the point where he could take on Saïx, provided Xemnas hadn't been exaggerating. With Axel on equal footing with any other Nobody, he would actually be able to help Sora and Riku fight Xemnas.

For the first time since this entire situation had begun, he was grateful for his power. He would've laughed at the irony of finally having found something positive about his power, but the fact that he was currently dodging attacks from a madman, and that that madman was getting awfully close to actually hitting him was more than enough to stop him. Besides, although the idea might work, Saïx would never give Axel the time to actually take his heart as things were now.

Mind still racing and trying to come up with anything that might get rid of Saïx long enough, while at the same time trying to ignore the part of his brain that was calling him insane for so much as considering this, Roxas caught sight of the staircase they'd climbed to get into this room. Narrowly dodging yet another one of Saïx's blows, he dashed for the entrance to the room, hoping Saïx was as out of his mind as he looked. He stopped at the top of the stairs, turning around to see Saïx following without thought. He stood there for as long as he dared, rolling out of the way at the very last second. He felt Saïx's weapon graze his arm and winced at the pain as a stream of blood trickled down his arm. He couldn't help but smirk, though, as he heard Saïx fall down the stairs and hit the ground.

Axel appeared beside him, panting heavily and looking just as bruised as Roxas. "Now why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you're an idiot," Roxas panted out. "I doubt that'll work a second time, though, so we need a different plan."

"Make him run into a wall?" Axel suggested with a strained grin.

Roxas shook his head, refraining from starting an argument. Saïx would probably be back on his feet in no time. For some reason, Roxas doubted he would be lucky enough to get rid of a Nobody like this. "You have to take my heart."

The grin disappeared from Axel's face and he looked down at him incredulously. "What?"

Roxas glanced at the staircase behind him, wishing he could sense Saïx so he'd know what the other was doing. "He's going to kill us at this rate, and you know it. Xemnas said the heart of a Keyblade Master gives Nobodies a huge power boost. So, we can either both die here, or you can take my heart and kick Saïx's ass."

Axel continued to stare down at him incredulously without moving an inch. Roxas' fists clenched in frustration, and he glanced back at the entrance to the room once more. They didn't have time for this. Saïx could come back any second, and he really didn't want to be given any time to think about what he was doing.

"You're serious, aren't you?" Roxas looked back up at Axel, the redhead watching him carefully. He could clearly read the distaste for what he'd said off the other's face, and knew Axel would like to do nothing more than to say no. However, Axel knew he had a point.

He forced a smile, letting his keyblades disappear. "I'm going to die either way, so why not do something useful while I'm still around. Just do me a favour and go help Sora and Riku. You might not be getting anything out of it, but if Vexen's right and you really do care…"

To his surprise, he could see several emotions flashing through Axel's eyes, frustration being the predominant one. It was the first time he'd seen Axel look honestly resentful of something he was about to do.

Roxas ignored the shiver that went down his spine as Axel grabbed his shoulders, as well as the part of his mind that was screaming at him to get away. He simply continued to force himself to smile, hoping Axel knew he was sorry for making him do this.

He gasped and his smile finally faded from his face as he felt a tearing pain in his chest. He had just enough time to look down at his chest in shock, not seeing or feeling any actually physical wound, before everything inside of him was consumed by a sea of fire.

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><p><strong>Uhm… don't kill me for the ending? °sweatddrops° Remember that if I die, none of you will ever know how the story ends!<strong>

**The first half or so of the next chapter has been written for ages. I'm going to have to change some things because the story decided things should go differently than I'd planned, but with half of the chapter already done I should be able to get next week's update done in time. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I'll hopefully see you all next week! Review guys!**


	21. Something About a Nobody

**Alright, next chapter! I'm surprised I'm keeping up this well, but I'm sure you're all very happy to see an update after last week's ending. Well, I've got nothing to say really so enjoy the chapter and R&R!  
><strong>

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><p><strong><em><em>-<em>**-: 21 :-**_-_**  
><span>Something About a Nobody<span>**_**

The instant he felt the tearing pain, there was a part of Roxas that panicked and tried to figure out what exactly had torn when he knew there wasn't a physical wound. It tried to resist the odd tingling sensation that accompanied the heat suddenly coursing through him.

A different part, a part that didn't become noticeable until the initial pain had subsided and the feeling of being torn apart had numbed a little, wondered at the part of him that had instantly panicked. As the tearing pain hadn't come from any physical wound, this had to be Axel's doing. He'd asked for this himself, demanded it even. What had he honestly expected? A warm and fuzzy feeling while his heart was being taken away?

However, the part of him that had panicked was far greater, and Roxas could vaguely feel his own arms struggling against the person holding him, fighting to try and get free. He had no control over them, the limbs acting entirely on their own accord.

The heat inside of him grew, the tingling sensation that seemed to be connected to it increasing as well. He could feel himself calm down, almost as if the heat was comforting him. It was making the panic fade away. No, not fade, numb. Roxas knew he was still panicking, and that the heat wasn't actually making it go away. It was numbing it, suppressing it, letting the more rational part of his mind take over.

His struggles lessened as the numbness increased, and he tried to wrap his mind around everything he could feel; the tingling sensation, the heat, the numbness, the still ever-present panic, the tearing pain. Then he realised he didn't really care. His curiosity towards the odd sensations was also fading, and he could feel other things that had previously seemed so important slowly becoming nothing but afterthoughts.

He'd been worried before about what would happen to the others once Axel had taken his heart. He'd been worried Axel might just up and leave since he'd only stuck around to try and get laid. He'd been worried about Sora — _everything_ about Sora. He'd even been worried about Riku — although he'd never admit it out loud — and what would happen to him if they failed to finish off Xemnas.

All of those worries were growing distant now. He didn't particularly care about Riku's problems anymore, Sora would get over this all eventually, and Axel might just listen to his request to stick around and help Sora and Riku. With the strength Axel would be getting he'd be more than capable of helping to defeat Xemnas. They would all probably be fine.

The part of him that hadn't been numbed yet protested violently, forcing back the numbness for a moment to accuse him of being heartless. The other part of him simply countered that a Heartless was exactly what he was becoming. It was like he'd been split into two, one part of him already surrendered to its inevitable fate, the other part still fighting against it.

So this was what it was like to lose your heart.

Just as fast as it had come, the heat suddenly disappeared, taking the tingling sensation with it. Roxas could vaguely feel the arms that had been restraining him letting go, his own arms having given up their struggles some time ago. Roxas frowned at the part of him that hadn't been numbed yet. Riku and Axel had always described the bit of heart left behind as a sliver, a tiny bit almost incapable of feeling anything. This didn't feel like a sliver, though. Not that it really mattered. He could feel the numbness consuming more of him still, so his heart would probably be gone soon enough.

A new sensation joined the ones inside of him. As soon as Axel had started to take his heart, all his senses had been dulled. Now, though, the sixth sense he'd developed for sensing people's hearts was coming back to him. He could feel several dark powers, two of them very close to him even, but they held no interest to him. His interest lay in the seven sources of light he could feel somewhere above him, calling to him, as well as an eighth source of light that felt different somehow, dangerous.

Those first seven lights were pulsing with the exact thing he was losing right now; emotion. He wanted them, needed them, _hungered_ for them. He wanted those lights to give him back what he was losing, fill the void growing inside of him.

The eighth light scared him, though. Despite the fact that it pulsed with the same emotion that the other seven did, it felt like it would destroy him if he came too close. Roxas wanted to stay as far away from it as possible, but it was standing so close to the seven lights he _needed_. If he wanted those lights he'd have to fight for them, tear apart the dangerous light that protected them. He'd have to kill—

He recoiled.

There was only one person around with a light that would feel so dangerous to him. The murderous intent he felt was for _Sora_.

The part of him that had slowly been giving in to the void inside of him, its struggles no longer as fierce as before, suddenly came back to life with a jolt. He was _not_ going to get up in a few minutes and try to kill Sora. He absolutely _refused_ to force Sora to kill him, or watch him be killed by either Axel or Riku.

The wound in his chest seemed to tingle.

The numbness recoiled from the sudden surge of determination and emotion. It tried to pull on the tingling wound, tried to make the tear bigger so the emotions left in his heart could bleed away. Roxas refused to let it though, fighting the numbness off so it wouldn't take any more from him.

The tingling in his chest changed into a feeling of warmth, forming a thin membrane over the wound to stop it from bleeding. The void recoiled again, unable to touch or tear this new layer of protection.

The incredible need for the lights he sensed dulled until it was more of an itch in the back of his mind that he couldn't reach. It was annoying, would probably never let him forget it was there, but it was manageable. A few seconds ago he'd been ready to attack Sora to get to those lights. Now he could push the desire to kill whoever stood between him and those lights away to the point where he couldn't feel it at all as long as he didn't think about it.

As he tried to force himself to full awareness, he once more found himself standing on the platform that supposedly represented his heart. He looked around in confusion, wondering why he was there once again. As he looked around, he noticed that several things had changed.

The dimly-lit symbols in the outer circle of the mural were lit up brightly, and some of them had changed into the Nobody symbol. The background of the inner circle no longer showed Twilight Town, but an image of the forefront of the castle he was in. Beyond the edges of the platform he could still see the void that had been there before, but it felt dangerous now. To Roxas, it felt like the darkness was trying to break the platform.

_You have accepted  
>your destiny<em>

_You are now  
>a true Master<em>

Roxas couldn't help but look up like he had before as he heard the disembodied voice. Just like last time, he found himself staring into the void above him. This time he averted his eyes instead of glaring into the darkness, the black nothingness disturbing him. Besides, the source of the voice was nowhere in sight anyway.

"How can I be a Master if I just let Axel take my heart?" It was true that he'd accepted that his power wasn't as bad as he'd been telling himself this entire time. The feeling that his power was currently helping Axel beat Saïx felt incredibly satisfying, and he supposed that helping people he didn't know could be more rewarding than he might've thought at first. On top of that, if they'd never gotten their keyblades, they wouldn't have met Axel and Riku. He didn't understand, though, how he was supposed to have a pure heart when the darkness was inside him.

_Because you  
>chose the light<br>and fought against  
>the darkness<em>

_Your heart is  
>still pure<br>and strong _

_Even while  
>surrounded<br>by darkness_

There was a tingling sensation in his hands just like last time he'd been on the platform. As Roxas let his keyblades appear in his hands, he was surprised to see that they'd once more changed shape. The change was quite a bit more drastic than what had happened last time, at that.

_Twilight Blaze -  
>To show who<br>made you as  
>you are now<em>

_Two Become One -  
>To show who<br>you are and what  
>powers you wield<em>

Roxas looked down curiously at the two new weapons, a grin forming on his face as he took them in. These were a definite improvement on what his old keyblades had looked like.

The first keyblade, the one he assumed to be Twilight Blaze from its colour scheme, had changed the least in his opinion. The guard and blade were a single part now, coloured black at the bottom of the guard, red near the beginning of the blade, and then turning a light yellow towards the tip. The guard had gained several spikes pointing downwards diagonally, and the handle had become yellowish-grey. At the very tip of the keyblade was a silver cross shaped like the top-half of the Nobody symbol. This symbol was the only thing connected to the teeth of the key, which were formed by a black, spiked arc. Despite the fact that it still looked distinctly key-like to Roxas, it at the very least looked like it could _hurt_ someone.

The second keyblade, Two Become One, was the one he liked the best. Although the Twilight Blaze had definitely improved in shape, it still looked like a key. Two Become One, on the other hand, had the distinct form of a sword. Its colour scheme was entirely black and white, the handle of the keyblade consisting of a chequered pattern of the two colours. The teeth of the keyblade consisted of the spikes that were a reoccurring feature, and the Nobody symbol adorned the hilt. As simple as it was, Roxas actually _liked_ it.

_Now go_

_Fight_

_Win_

The platform faded and his normal senses slowly returned to him. Whereas he'd previously only been vaguely aware of no longer being held, he could now feel that he was lying on the ground. He could once more hear the sounds of a battle going on not too far away from him. He could taste the metallic tang of blood in his mouth from hits he'd taken earlier.

Roxas opened his eyes, his vision blurred and his mind still dazed, but otherwise fine. He pushed himself onto his elbows, trying to take in his surroundings and forcing his vision to focus.

Axel had put him in a corner of the room, no doubt to try and keep him away from Saïx's attacks. He could sense two dark powers in the room, though it took another moment before his vision had focussed enough for him to see the people those powers belonged to.

Saïx was still dashing around the room, trying to smash his weapon into Axel. Unlike before, though, Axel was not being thrown back as he blocked the blows with his chakrams. It was obvious from the expression on Axel's face that it was costing him a lot of effort to stay standing, and it didn't look like he was being given a lot of opportunities to attack Saïx himself, but at the very least he had become strong enough to fight back now.

Roxas frowned as he watched the fight, something seeming different about Axel. It took him a moment to realise that Axel looked younger. He'd looked like he was in his mid-twenties before, but now he looked more like he was in his late teens to begin twenties. He was surprised that a single heart could have so much effect on a Nobody, but then figured the heart of a Keyblade Master was probably more effective in that department than any normal heart was.

He watched the fight for a while, impassively wondering if he should get up and help. His body still felt like it had been used as a punching bag, though, so it was probably better for him if he stayed where he was.

He simply watched as Axel blocked blow after blow, sometimes managing to create enough distance so he could throw a fireball at Saïx. Those fireballs only agitated Saïx more, the blue-haired Nobody seeming to become stronger as his anger grew.

It wasn't until one of Saïx's attacks brought the two fighting Nobodies near where he was lying that the first hint of alarm shot through him. Until then, he'd been perfectly calm and content to watch the fighting going on, but he had no intension of idly lying there if he was going to get squashed by one of Saïx's attacks as a result. He was about to sit up when a wall of fire sprang up from the ground, and he could hear Saïx howling furiously as he was scorched. Roxas looked at the fire curiously, realising that Axel had probably been protecting him in this exact manner while he'd been unconscious.

He frowned, wondering if this meant he should go and help Axel in return. If Axel had been keeping him safe, he probably should repay him by helping him out. Then again, his body really did still hurt, and the wall of flames was cutting him off from the rest of the room. He couldn't do anything until at least the fire had subsided.

As he lay there, staring at the flames protecting him from Saïx, he heard someone let out a cry of pain. Recognising the voice as Axel's, another twinge of alarm shot through him, once more disrupting the calm he'd regained after realising that Saïx would not be able to get to him. He sat up as the flames died down, once again giving him a view of the room. He could see Axel on the other side of the room, slumped against a wall he'd no doubt just been flung into. More importantly, he could see Saïx dashing towards Axel, intending to finish the fight off now that he had the chance.

Almost as if a switch had been flipped in his mind, emotions flooded back into him. Worry for Axel's well-being and anger towards Saïx spread through him in an instant, all the other emotions he would normally be able to feel temporarily suppressed by the two, though present nonetheless.

Before he knew what he was doing he'd jumped to his feet, his newly reformed keyblades appearing in his hands, and dashed forward to intercept Saïx's attack. Just before Saïx could land his potentially fatal blow to Axel, Roxas caught up to him and slammed both his keyblades into the blue-haired Nobody's back as hard as he could.

Saïx let out a howl of pain, turning to glare at whoever had struck him. The surprise at seeing Roxas there visible even through the wild madness in his eyes. Roxas smirked for a moment before swinging one of his keyblades at him again, putting enough force into it so Saïx would be the one thrown back for a change. Saïx might have a ridiculous amount of strength in his body, he was still no heavier than any other human in their mid-teens. The smirk on Roxas' face grew as he watched Saïx fall to the ground, the feelings of helplessness and uselessness that had been bothering him ever since they'd entered the castle falling off him.

"You know, you look incredibly sexy when you're saving my life."

Roxas glanced down at the redhead sitting on the ground, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. "If I hit you with a keyblade now," he held up Two Become One, "it'd hurt a lot more, you know."

Axel chuckled, seeming incredibly pleased with his answer for some reason. "Glad to see you didn't change too much." He got to his feet, his eyes shifting to where Saïx had fallen. "In any case, now that you're finally awake again, we can actually beat Saïx."

Roxas frowned at Axel before turning to face Saïx as well. "You don't seem too surprised that I'm still around."

"Nope, but we'll get to that after we've gotten rid of Saïx. I don't think he'll let us have a proper conversation."

Saïx had gotten back to his feet as well, the calm side of him that they'd first seen back in control. This calm did not last long as he looked over at them, his eyes narrowing on Roxas for a moment before the wild gleam returned to them. "You…"

When Saïx charged at them again, Roxas expected to be thrown back as he had been when he'd blocked before. Instead, he found himself still standing, albeit with a lot of effort, giving Axel more than enough time to burn the blue-haired Nobody. Saïx jumped back with a howl, his anger once more seeming to fuel his strength as he dashed forward and tried to slam his weapon into one of them.

If either of them had been alone, Roxas was fairly sure Saïx would've won the fight. Although they could both withstand the jarring impacts of Saïx's hits, if Saïx would've had the opportunity to land several blows in quick succession, they would not have been able to withstand the assault for very long.

However, they were not fighting Saïx seperately. With one of them blocking Saïx's attacks and keeping him busy, the other had more than enough time to attack. Roxas could feel his arms burning with the exertion of stopping Saïx's blows, but the amount of injuries Saïx had sustained was far greater. If they could keep this up they would win, although they'd probably both be too tired to go and help Sora and Riku afterwards.

Roxas grimaced at that thought, wanting nothing more than to go straight after Sora and Riku once they'd gotten rid of Saïx. With Saïx only seeming to fight harder the more injuries they inflicted, it wasn't likely that they would be of much use.

An idea struck him as a ball of fire rushed past his head, throwing Saïx back for a moment. He focused on the magic inside of him for a moment, remembering what Riku had told them right before they'd left for the Realm of Darkness. He hadn't been able to use his elemental magic properly then because he hadn't been a full Keyblade Master. Right now he _was_ one, though. He wasn't entirely sure if the fact that he was also a Nobody — if that was really what he was. He could still feel his emotions far too strongly in his opinion — would interfere with the magic, but he also remembered Riku saying that all Nobodies were created with enough magic to start using it immediately. Either way, he should be able to use some kind of magic now.

As he found the place inside of him where his elemental magic came from, he was surprised to find his light magic flowing through him stronger than ever. He'd expected to have changed element, or to at the very least find more of a chaotic mix of elements like Riku had. Instead, the light magic was as pure as ever, and partially feeding off the darkness around him. even

For a brief moment, all Roxas could do was stand there, stunned by the paradox of his light magic being created from the darkness. Then, shaking his head and deciding he'd figure it out later, he made sure Axel was standing close enough to him so he wouldn't be hit by the pillars of light he'd formed the last time he'd tried to use his elemental magic.

He sensed more than saw the shudder that went down Axel's body as he forced his magic to spark and come out, once again forming the pillars of light around him. Saïx tried to rush at him once more as the pillars formed, the beams throwing him back and to the ground. Roxas watched in amazement as balls of light appeared in front of him, each one aiming itself in Saïx's direction and hitting him dead-on, now that he couldn't try and dodge them.

Howls of pain echoed through the room until the attack faded, leaving Roxas feeling tired, but all too satisfied with himself. His eyes stayed focused on Saïx to see if he would get back up — after all, this was the first time he'd ever used his magic. He could've very easily used too little of it — until he felt the dark power inside of Saïx start to fade. Darkness flowed from the wounds on Saïx's body, slowly consuming him until there was nothing left. Roxas felt a shiver go down his spine as Saïx's howls of pain and protest died down until there was nothing but silence, the darkness fading away and leaving nothing behind.

He dropped to his knees once he was sure he was relatively safe. He panted as he tried to catch his breath, wondering how Riku could use his magic so easily if it took this much energy.

There was a moment of complete silence before Axel sat down next to him, his eyes still focussed on the spot Saïx had just disappeared from and his expression melancholic. After a moment he shook his head and looked over at Roxas, his expression turning apprehensive and his body tensing. "Don't do that while I'm standing that close next time. The light and I don't exactly get along."

Roxas chuckled, taking a few deep breaths to try and steady his breathing. "Which is strange, considering that my light now seems to be partially feeding off the darkness."

Axel's eyebrows rose in surprise before he shook his head. "Well, that's what I get for turning a Keyblade Master into a Nobody…"

Roxas leaned back on his arms, wincing as several of his bruises protested. He ignored them, frowning up at Axel confusedly. "So I really did turn into a Nobody? Because seriously, you and Riku have been exaggerating the whole 'lack of emotions' thing, then."

Aside from the moments right after he'd woken up, he'd been able to feel anything and everything just fine. He was still worried about how Sora and Riku were doing — although he was trying to suppress that until he'd recovered a little and he could actually move around without dropping to the floor in exhaustion — Axel still annoyed him, and he felt relieved beyond belief that he was still there and they'd managed to beat Saïx. He could feel everything he always had as far as he could tell.

Axel frowned for a moment, looking at him intently before shaking his head. "I only took enough of your heart to make myself strong enough to fight Saïx. I left as much as I could because I figured you stood a pretty good chance at becoming a Nobody. For as far as I can tell, about half your heart is still inside you. Obviously you're not entirely human anymore, but I wouldn't exactly call you a full-fledged Nobody either."

Roxas' eyes narrowed on the redhead as he pointedly ignored the part of him that was immensely grateful Axel had left so much of his heart. "And what if I hadn't turned into a Nobody? Saïx would've finished you off if I hadn't stepped in."

Axel shrugged, once more seeming entirely unconcerned with the idea of dying. "You did turn into a Nobody, or something along the lines of it anyway, so there's no point in thinking about that now."

Roxas continued to glare at him before sighing as the gratitude he felt got the better of him. Right after he'd woken up there had been a short time where he'd simply watched Axel and Saïx fight, honestly not caring what would happen to either of them. Even now, while he was able to feel his full range of emotions, he could still sense a numbed part inside of him. He hated the idea of that emotionless state being normal for him. He hated the idea of caring so little about people that he would let them die in front of his eyes.

He vaguely wondered if this was what Riku felt like. It really did feel like he could switch his emotions off and on right now.

"Thanks." He averted his eyes and stared at the ground, his voice having become more of a soft mumble as he spoke. He glanced up for a second to see Axel grinning at him, immediately looking back at the ground afterwards and telling himself Axel deserved to look a little smug right now.

There was another moment of silence in which Roxas mentally prodded at the numbed void inside of him, trying to figure out exactly how he could switch between it and his current state. He was reluctant to actually try and switch between the two, unsure if he'd care enough to try and switch back once he'd let the emotionless part of him take over. Unlike Riku, he had no intension of leaving his emotions turned off most of the time, so he wanted to stay as far away from his emotionless side as possible.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as Axel got back to his feet, holding out a hand to help Roxas up as well as a look of absolute glee crossing his face. "Come on."

Roxas stared up at the redhead warily, not trusting the gleeful look on the other's face in the slightest. "What are you planning?"

A mischievous glint entered Axel's eyes, a shiver going down Roxas' spine at the look. "You have a promise to fulfil."

Roxas frowned in confusion as Axel grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. His confusion only grew as Axel started to pull him out of the room. "Wait, shouldn't we go and help Sora and Riku? A Dark Corridor would be faster than having to run through the castle."

Axel shook his head, the grin on his face widening. "We'll go and help them as soon as you fulfil your promise." He stopped as soon as they'd left the room, turning around to face Roxas. "You said I could do whatever I wanted to you as soon as we got out of that room as long as I didn't have to drag you away from a fight. Well, we're out of the room, and I didn't drag you away from a fight."

Roxas' mouth fell open and for a moment he was too stunned to answer. He snapped out of his stupor as Axel took a step closer to him, glaring up at the redhead defensively as he took a step backwards. "I thought we were going to die! You can't seriously keep me to—"

"And why not?" Axel took another step closer, Roxas finding his back pressed against a wall as he tried to back away again.

"Sora and Riku need our help!"

"In case you weren't paying attention to Vexen, I care about you, not them." Roxas was about to protest again but Axel cut him off before he could say a word, "Besides, I'm sure they can manage for another few seconds. I wasn't planning on doing too much… yet."

Roxas tried to push Axel away as the redhead took another step closer, his attempt feeble at best. "I'm not gay?" Even to his own ears the comment sounded more like a question than anything else. He inwardly cursed his usual talent for lying for abandoning him.

Axel simply snorted at the comment, just as convinced as Roxas was by the words. "You're going to have to lie better than that if you want me to stop."

Roxas mentally grimaced at those words, knowing they were the exact problem. Right now, with Axel's body pressed up against his and the redhead already starting to lean down towards him, he honestly didn't really want Axel to stop. The only reasons why he hadn't already given in were his general stubbornness in resisting anything and everything, especially things he couldn't control, and the fact that Sora and Riku really did need their help most likely. Sadly, Axel was getting very close to making him give up on his stubbornness for once, and he himself had wanted to wait a little while before they'd join the fight against Xemnas so they could recover from their battle with Saïx.

Axel stopped leaning down towards him when their lips were barely an inch apart, that annoying, knowing smirk that he seemed to have copied from Sora still visible. "Any further protests?"

Roxas tried to continue glaring at the redhead. "You're an idiot, incredibly annoying, perverted, dead if Sora dies because you couldn't keep your libido in check—"

"And totally getting some tonight."

"Just shut up and kiss me before I change my mind."

He'd barely finished speaking before Axel finally closed the distance between them, hungrily crushing their lips together and forcing his tongue inside Roxas' mouth without bothering to wait for any kind of permission. Without any true conscious thought on his part, Roxas found his hands tangling themselves in Axel's hair and trying to pull him closer, responding to the kiss with an eagerness he'd been denying for days now.

By the time they pulled apart, Axel was holding him up with his hands on his ass, Roxas' legs wrapped firmly around Axel's waist. They were both breathing heavily, and Roxas knew that, had they not been standing in a castle in the Realm of Darkness while Sora and Riku were fighting for their lives somewhere above them, he would've happily let Axel continue.

He took a deep breath, reluctantly unwrapping his legs from around Axel's waist so he could stand on his own two feet again. "We need to go help Sora and Riku."

Axel looked less than happy as he let him go. "Do we really have to?"

Roxas' eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. He was about to start throwing his usual threats at Axel when he changed his mind, remembering that there were far more effective ways of getting Axel to do what he wanted. "We do if you were planning on getting laid tonight. I'm hardly going to be in the mood for sex if Sora dies."

Axel's eyes lit up, the pout that had been forming on his face disappearing. "Is that a promise?"

Roxas hesitated for a moment, knowing he was going to regret this promise once his stubbornness had managed to recover. Then again, if they hadn't been in the situation they were in now, he wouldn't even be debating this with himself. He'd no doubt already be lying on a bed half-naked, and doing anything but trying to stop Axel. He sighed.

"Sure, whatever. Just make the damned Dark Corridor."

* * *

><p><strong>Honestly, was anybody really expecting me to kill off Roxy? Turning him into a pseudo-quasi-/semi-/demi-/half-Nobody is far more fun. XD Also, everybody can get off my back now about getting Roxas and Axel together. Honestly, some of you were really way too impatient for that to happen. °shakes head°**

**I've got a minor starting on Monday and I'm not entirely sure how much it'll eat into my time. I would say that since I've only got the fight against Xemnas and a potential epilogue left I'll be more than capable of finishing the story with my weekly updates, but I'm honestly not entirely sure yet how the fight is going to go. We'll see what happens, I suppose.**

**Anyway, enough of my rambling. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and I'll hopefully see you all next week. Review guys!**


	22. Something About an End of the Beginning

**I apologise for not updating the last two weeks. This chapter was a bitch to write and ended up becoming incredibly long. Also, I may or may not have gotten completely side-tracked by trying to defeat all the Data Nobodies and Terra's Armour in KH2:FM. Well, mostly the Nobodies. Terra's Armour kicked my ass so badly it's not even funny anymore. I swear Terra was just holding his armour back during BBS because he was never that damned strong or FAST when I was playing as him.**

**Anyway, second-to-last chapter guys! Next week — hopefully — will be the final chapter, and then I can finally stop kicking myself whenever I don't have a chapter done by Thursday. I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I hated writing it. XD R&R folks!**

**_-_**-: 22 :-**_-_**  
><span>Something About an End of the Beginning<span>****

Sora jumped back as the field exploded into a sea of fire, the protest he'd been about to voice dying in his throat as he stared into the flames with wide eyes. A hand grabbed his arm and before he could stop Riku from dragging him away, he'd already passed through a Dark Corridor leading him away from the fight. He found himself in a large room with several enormous windows making up one of the walls, allowing them a bird's eye view of the surrounding city.

Wait, why was Riku taking him away from the fight? He needed to stay and help Roxas.

"Damn it, I haven't been off by this much in ages." Sora looked back at Riku as he sensed the Dark Corridor disappearing, cutting him off from going back to help Roxas. He grabbed Riku's arm as he felt the other focussing his power to create a new Dark Corridor that would no doubt lead him even _further_ away from where he should be. "Wait, we need to go back!"

Riku pulled his arm free, glaring down at Sora in annoyance. "They gave us a chance to get away so we can go after Xemnas, and you want to go _back_?"

Sora ignored the shiver that went down his spine at the cold look Riku gave him. He wasn't going to let Roxas die just because Riku had decided to switch his emotions off again. "Roxas and Axel couldn't keep up when we were fighting Xemnas! We can't just leave them to fight on their own!"

Riku just couldn't be serious about leaving Roxas and Axel behind. When they'd been fighting Xemnas, Axel had only been able to cancel out Xemnas' attacks. Roxas had been even worse off, being kept at a distance without taking up too much of Xemnas' concentration. Sora knew he himself hadn't exactly been the most useful of people, but at least he'd been able to distract Xemnas enough for Riku to land some hits.

Since Xemnas had left Saïx to fight them all, he was obviously confident that Saïx would be able to defeat them. Leaving Roxas and Axel to fight someone strong enough to take all of them on at the same time was the same as sentencing them to death.

The image of Roxas fading away shot through his mind. He stared up at Riku, desperate to make him understand and take them back to the fight.

Riku glared down at him for a moment before his look softened, his emotions switching back on. "Sora, if we don't beat Xemnas, he'll get to Kingdom Hearts. He'll have an infinite supply of power at his disposal if that happens, and we won't be able to beat him for sure. He'll kill us all in the blink of an eye, and that includes Roxas. If we go back to help Roxas, we'll all end up dying because Xemnas had all the time in the world to become all-powerful."

"So we should leave Roxas and Axel to die? What if they die while we beat Xemnas?" He wouldn't know what he'd do if Roxas died. Sure, he'd be happy that they'd saved so many people if they beat Xemnas, but losing Roxas in the process? He'd be absolutely devastated.

"Have a little bit of faith in those two." Riku put a hand on his shoulder, smiling at him reassuringly. "Roxas seems to refuse to do what other people want, so he's going to do everything in his power to stay alive if Saïx wants them dead. We'll probably end up needing their help more than they need ours."

Despite how convincing Riku looked and sounded, Sora knew he was mostly saying things just to reassure him. Still, Riku was right about one thing; Roxas was stubborn beyond all belief. Once he'd made up his mind about something, he didn't give up on it. He doubted his brother would be able to beat Saïx, but he wasn't going to make it easy for Saïx to kill him or Axel either. Maybe if he and Riku could beat Xemnas, they'd be in time to go and save Roxas and Axel. It was, of course, either incredibly naïve or incredibly arrogant to think that way, but he needed to tell himself something if he didn't want to start running back in the direction of the fight right this instant.

"Sora?"

Sora bit his lip, his fists clenching as he spoke, "Just open the Dark Corridor to Xemnas."

Riku removed his hand from his shoulder, focussing for a moment to aim his Dark Corridor properly. For the first time, Sora wished he could switch his emotions off as easily as Riku could as he saw the other's face becoming the calm, blank mask again. If he worried too much about Roxas, he might get distracted while he should be concentrating on staying alive himself. He wasn't going to be able to help Roxas if he was dead. Then again, his worrying also made him more determined. If he hadn't already been motivated before, he definitely was now.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as he felt Riku put his hand on his shoulder again, only now noticing that he'd started staring down at the ground. He glanced up, noticing that the blank expression on Riku's face had once more melted away to show some emotion. "Come on, the sooner we beat Xemnas, the sooner we can go check on Roxas. This isn't going to end like your Mark of Mastery."

Sora smiled wryly. "I thought you couldn't read me."

"It's getting easier." Riku answered, a hint of humour in his voice and eyes. Then, to Sora's great disappointment, Riku's face turned blank once more and he was pushed towards the Dark Corridor that Riku had formed.

Laughter met his ears as he stepped out on the other side. He looked up at where the sound was coming from to see a staircase leading up to a higher platform. On top of this platform he could sense one dark power and seven powers of absolutely pure light. Sora frowned slightly at the light sources. He was sure they belonged the Princesses of Heart, but their power felt more… active than he'd ever felt them before. He'd been able to sense Kairi's power for a short while when they'd saved her from the Realm of Darkness before. It had felt just as pure as these hearts did now, but it had been completely calm and serene. The light from these hearts was sparking wildly, almost as if it was being used for an attack of some kind

As soon as he sensed Kairi's heart, reminding him that he wasn't just doing this for Roxas, Sora sprinted up the stairs to make sure she was alright. When he came to the top, he saw Xemnas standing in the middle of the platform, looking up at the sky for some reason. Around him lay the seven Princesses of Heart, all unconscious. Each of the girls was giving off a faint glow, a visible sign of the active magic in their bodies. Sora spotted Kairi lying to the left of Xemnas, looking dishevelled and distraught even in her unconscious state. His eyes widened as he looked her over, wishing they could've come save her sooner. "Kairi!"

A hand grabbed his arm as he tried to run forward, stopping him just as a screen of darkness jumped up in front of him. Sora took a step back, his gaze shifting from Kairi to Xemnas.

"Saïx is becoming sloppy if he just let you leave." Xemnas turned away from whatever he'd been staring at to face them, a look of absolute glee on his face. "I'll have to punish him when he's done with your friends."

"He'll have to kill Axel and Roxas first, then. I don't think that'll be as easy as you think it is." The hand on his shoulder disappeared and Riku stepped in front of him, looking far more confident than he probably was. If Sora hadn't been worrying about Kairi's well-being he would've smiled at Riku once again trying to reassure him, albeit indirectly.

Xemnas chuckled, his already gleeful expression gaining an amused quality. "I see you've gained a sense of humour. Well, it really doesn't matter if they survive or not. If they kill Saïx it'll simply mean I'll have one person less to take care of."

"But he's on your side!" Sora protested. "Why would you kill him?"

"He never intended to share the power of Kingdom Hearts with anyone," Riku answered, his eyes narrowing. "I bet he would've gotten rid of me too, if I'd ever even thought about asking for a share of its power."

"Very true," Xemnas agreed. "Though since you've always refused to eat hearts, I had planned to leave you alive at least until you'd started asking."

Riku was interrupted from answering as the platform was suddenly lit up from somewhere above them. Sora looked up curiously, for the first time taking in the moon that hung in the sky. Unlike the moon he was used to seeing, this one wasn't a circle; it was in the shape of a heart.

And it was giving off almost enough light to start rivalling the sun.

"No way…" Riku whispered next to him, his eyes fixed on the moon as well.

"Yes, isn't it ironic that all this time, we've been looking far and wide for it, while all we really had to do was look up?" Xemnas chuckled. "Not that knowing where it was would've done us any good. Without the Princesses of Heart to create a portal that leads into Kingdom Hearts, knowing its location would've been completely useless."

Sora looked back at Xemnas, for the first time noticing that the air behind the man seemed to be shifting, a very faint glow starting to emanate from seemingly nowhere.

"Well, we'll just have to stop you before that portal forms, then." He summoned his keyblade, taking a step forward so he was standing next to Riku.

"And risk the safety of these girls?" Xemnas asked in mock-horror. "Well, I suppose killing one of them _would_ stop me…" His gaze focussed on Riku. "Right, Riku?"

"Riku would never do something like that!" Sora instantly defended, glancing over at Riku confidently. "Right, Riku?"

The confident look on his face fell slightly as Riku didn't respond immediately, looking hesitant for a moment before answering with a mild grimace on his face, "Of course not."

Xemnas let out a barking laugh. "You may have gained a sense of humour, but you've lost your touch for lying." His gaze switched over to Sora, fake amazement on his face. "I'm surprised you'd trust someone like him. He's willing to kill to stop me. Are you sure you can trust him? Who knows if he'll sacrifice you during our fight to create a good opening?"

"Riku…?" Despite the fact that Riku refused to meet his eyes, Sora shook his head and looked back at Xemnas. Riku might've hesitated before answering him, but he trusted him enough to believe he hadn't lied. He also trusted Riku enough to know he wouldn't just use him to create an opening. Xemnas was just trying to drive them apart so it'd be easier to beat them. "I trust Riku with my life. You're just trying to buy time so that portal can open."

Both Xemnas and Riku gave him a look of disbelief at his words, though Xemnas' was considerably more subtle than Riku's. He shot Riku a smile before focussing back on Xemnas, hearing Riku mutter something that sounded distinctly like, "And he's back to being a mystery…" next to him.

Xemnas didn't look particularly fazed by the fact that his plan to drive them apart hadn't worked, though he didn't look as pleased as he had been either. "I see Keyblade Masters haven't become any less foolish. No matter, you can't do anything with the princesses here." His expression turned gleeful again as the glow behind him intensified. He turned his back on them, entirely unconcerned with any attacks they might launch at him. "All you can do is stand there and watch while I gain entry into Kingdom Hearts and become all-powerful!"

Sora's eyes narrowed and he took a step forward, trying to think of a way he could attack Xemnas without hitting any of the princesses. To his surprise, he felt Riku put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from stepping any closer. He glanced over his shoulder questioningly, trying to figure out why Riku would stop him from attacking when that was the exact reason they'd come up here. Riku was looking at Xemnas intently, his gaze briefly shifting to the unformed portal every once in a while. He looked like he was trying to come up with a way to stop Xemnas, though Sora had no clue why Riku would stop him because of that.

"Look at it! It's simply beautiful…" Sora turned back, Riku's hand tightening on his shoulder as he tried to step forward again. Xemnas was staring at the portal in absolute awe, the light no longer a faint glow but having intensified. It had also started to swirl in the same pattern Sora recognized from the portal between his world and the Realm of Darkness. Although it hadn't quite finished forming yet, but Sora could already vaguely sense hearts as pure as those of the princesses on the other side.

He turned back to Riku, trying to pull away from him once more, only to be jerked back. He scowled at the warning look Riku gave him, pulling away forcefully. "What are you doing?"

Riku glanced at Xemnas for a moment, but the man was entirely entranced by the portal in front of him. "He'll create one of those shields again if you get any closer. We can't do anything right now unless you want to use that attack of yours and kill the princesses at the same time you're attacking him." From the look in Riku's eyes, Sora could easily tell that he wasn't entirely against the idea of doing exactly that, though he was obviously trying to refrain from actually suggesting it.

"We can't just stand here and let him walk through that portal either," Sora countered. "We have to try something!"

Riku looked over at Xemnas again to make sure he was still focusing on the portal. He hesitated a moment before making up his mind and looked back. "You said you trusted me, so trust me. Since we can't fight him here, we're going to have to fight him there. And I think we might just have an advantage over there."

Sora stared at him in confusion, a very tiny voice in the back of his head questioning if he could really trust Riku as much as he thought he could. He ignored the voice, determined not to let what Xemnas had said earlier get to him. He watched reluctantly as the light of the portal intensified until it was just as bright as the moon overhead. As the portal formed, the pure hearts on the other side that had felt so distant before slowly seemed to be getting closer. Sora was slightly surprised Xemnas hadn't looked back at them to see why they hadn't attacked him yet, but from the hungry, fixated look on the man's face he guessed that Xemnas might've just forgotten they were there altogether.

"He looks like he's forgotten we're even here. Can't we just—"

"No," Riku cut him off. "You'll only be able to hit him a few times before he throws you off the castle. Let him step through that portal completely unaware of us, and then attack him immediately."

Despite the fact that he had no idea what Riku could possibly be thinking, Sora held back the urge to attack Xemnas. It was killing him to just stand there as Xemnas slowly stepped closer to the portal, mumbling in awe to himself.

Riku stepped forward, readying himself to attack, as Xemnas stopped right in front of the swirling light. He was obviously not planning on letting Xemnas go too far into Kingdom Hearts before attacking. Sora took a deep breath, glad they were at the very least getting ready. He still didn't understand why they were letting Xemnas get to a place where he could grow infinitely more powerful, but supposed he'd find out as soon as they'd get through that portal. As per usual, Riku didn't seem to be in the mood to share information.

There was a brief flash of light from both the portal and the moon. As soon as the flash faded and the light returned to its previous brightness, Sora could sense a torrent of pure light coming from the other side of the portal. Even though he was not a Nobody and thus did not hunger for the light, it did affect him. It felt so soothing that it drew him in, calling to him. It relieved some of the constant pressure the darkness around him put him under, allowing him to relax a little at long last.

Next to him, he saw Riku's guard dropping for a moment, his gaze switching from Xemnas to the portal with a dazed look in his eyes. Sora figured that the light probably felt even more appealing to Riku than it did to him. Riku might not be an actual Nobody; he did possess some of their qualities. Hearts were no doubt more alluring to him than he let on in general.

The dazed look in Riku's eyes disappeared instantly as Xemnas began to walk through the portal, the look in the older man's eyes so completely mesmerized it wouldn't surprise Sora if he tripped over his own feet. The intense look Riku had been giving Xemnas returned, although there was a distant, distracted quality to it that Sora recognized all too well from when Axel had been forced to be in the same place as Kairi. Riku rushed forward, hitting Xemnas' back hard enough to knock the man through the portal. A look of surprise crossed Xemnas' face as he fell to the ground. As soon as Xemnas and Riku reached the other side of the portal, both of them stiffened for some reason. A look of both discomfort and pleased satisfaction crossed Riku's face.

It took Sora a moment to regain his senses and shake the soothing feeling before he could react as well. When he did manage to free himself of the blissful fog that had set in, he immediately rushed through the portal as well. He wasn't entirely sure why Riku had stopped attacking Xemnas, especially with Xemnas now unable to focus his mind properly, but he wasn't about to let this chance go to waste.

On the other side of the portal was nothing but a white void and small, pulsating lights, which he assumed were the hearts he'd sensed before. The hearts were scattering, trying to get away from the strangers entering their domain.

And it felt amazing to be there.

The moment he crossed the threshold and entered Kingdom Hearts, he knew exactly why both Xemnas and Riku looked so uncomfortable. The pressure the Realm of Darkness had been putting him under fell away completely, the all-consuming light around him making him feel completely at home and stronger than ever. He felt like he could take on anyone, including Xemnas, and come out of the fight unharmed. It was the exact opposite feeling the Realm of Darkness gave him.

A brief grin appeared on his face before he managed to get a hold of himself once more. Obviously Kingdom Hearts was holding back Xemnas and Riku as much as the Realm of Darkness had been holding him back, but that didn't mean Xemnas wouldn't be able to keep fighting. Xemnas had been far more powerful than he was before, and just because their roles had been reversed didn't mean he should start underestimating the older man, or overestimating himself. It was, in a way, a good thing that there were hearts all around them, distracting Xemnas and making it even harder for him to fight properly, but all the distractions in the world wouldn't do him any good if Xemnas actually managed to consume one of these hearts.

Before Xemnas had any chance to recover from the new, suffocating feeling around him, Sora started to hit the man as hard and fast as possible. Once again Xemnas looked surprised as he was hit, apparently having forgotten that Riku wasn't the only one that was trying to stop him. It was almost comical to see how much the hearts that could make Xemnas practically invincible were now weakening him to the point where it didn't seem so unlikely anymore that he could be beaten. The irony wasn't lost on Sora either.

Just as it seemed that Xemnas had regained enough of his senses to try and counterattack, one of Riku's balls of darkness flew by and hit the man square in the chest. Several more attacks followed, throwing Xemnas back and out of range of hitting Sora with his lightsabre–swords. Riku appeared next to him, the discomfort now hidden although Sora was sure the other still felt it. "See, I told you we'd have an advantage here."

Sora blinked. "You knew Xemnas' power would be affected in the same way the Realm of Darkness affects mine?"

"Knowing might be a bit too strong of a word," Riku admitted reluctantly. "I had a strong suspicion."

Sora chuckled. "That's pretty reckless. What happened to planning everything out?"

"He would've still been distracted by all the hearts," Riku defended, unwilling to admit he'd taken a big risk.

"Whatever you say, Riku." Sora's grin grew for a moment before he focussed back on the fight at hand. Xemnas had gotten to his feet and was glaring at them, the hearts he wanted so badly fleeing away from him and making it impossible for him to just grab one and overpower everyone who stood in his way. He looked frustrated, livid, and yet still utterly distracted by the hunger inside of him. "Do you honestly think you can stop me just by weakening my powers slightly? I am more powerful than you could ever hope to be!"

"Prove it," Riku challenged, keyblade held out in front him. "As long as we're here, your power decreases while Sora's increases. Plus, even if you're still stronger, you seem to be having trouble focussing. I'd say we stand a pretty good chance at beating you right now."

Xemnas' eyes narrowed before darkness once again flowed through the palms of his hands to create the swords that really did look way too much like lightsabres. He did not waste any time mocking them like he had before, immediately charging at them. Lasers once more came at them as he rushed forward, trying to make it as difficult as possible to block both them and Xemnas' upcoming attacks.

As the lasers started to shoot at them, Sora panicked slightly. He knew Axel had been helping them quite a bit during the last fight by cancelling the lasers out for them, leaving Riku and him to focus mostly on trying to get to Xemnas himself. Without Axel, if Xemnas once again started to shoot at them from all sides they'd have a hard time blocking all of them without leaving any openings for Xemnas to take advantage of.

Oddly enough, though, the lasers were only coming from Xemnas' direction. Considering that the man was attacking them rather than just toying with them as he stood still, he was taking this fight more serious than their previous confrontation. Why wouldn't he shoot his lasers from as many places as possible like he had before?

He shook his head, holding up his keyblade to block the lasers while hoping the impact wouldn't be too jarring so that he wouldn't be able to block Xemnas' lightsabre-swords. To his surprise, it was easy to deflect the lasers, the impact not jarring in the slightest. The lack of power behind the thin beams was so surprising that he dropped his guard for a moment, the force behind Xemnas' sword as it hit his keyblade almost enough to make him lose his grip on his weapon. He recovered quickly, gripping his keyblade more tightly and parrying Xemnas' next attack. Although the blow was still quite powerful, Sora managed to push back with just as much force, no longer being thrown back as he had been before. Several more blows followed and yet he was able to block them perfectly every time. He could hardly believe how much Kingdom Hearts was influencing their power.

Next to him, Riku seemed to be having more trouble blocking Xemnas' attacks. His speed was thankfully unaffected, forcing Xemnas to keep most of his attention on him by making his attacks as fast as he could, and quite a bit showier than Sora was used to from him. It took him a moment to figure out that Riku was trying to make Xemnas think he was still the stronger one, and that the man's attention should be mostly on him. Riku knew he was no longer the one with the most power between the two of them, and was giving him as many openings as he possibly could by distracting Xemnas. The plan wasn't working completely, though it was confusing Xemnas. The man's already wavering attention switched between them constantly as he tried to figure out who he needed to be more careful of. Because of this confusion he was leaving openings for both of them to take advantage of.

The only real problems were the lasers that continued to shoot at them. Although they only came from Xemnas' direction and they were now easy enough to deflect, several of them still managed to hit whenever he didn't keep a close eye out for them. Several times Sora had to grit his teeth as he felt one of the thin beams hit his arm or leg, trying to make him drop his keyblade or slow him down.

One of the beams he'd failed to block hit just above his knee as he stepped forward, no doubt having been meant to hit his kneecap and make the leg entirely useless. Sora winced at the pain, but tried to ignore it as best he could, refusing to stop fighting now that they actually seemed to have a decent chance at winning.

He continued to run towards Xemnas, Riku distracting the man with a flurry of attacks that demanded almost all of his attention. It wasn't until he was only a few feet away that Xemnas noticed him, his eyes narrowing as Sora swung his keyblade towards him.

One of the screens of darkness Xemnas used to defend himself with sprang up between them. Sora's eyes widened slightly, remembering how Riku had been thrown back when he'd tried to attack Xemnas through one of the shields. He prepared to be thrown to the ground as his keyblade connected with the screen, shocked to find his keyblade smashing straight through it and still landing a hit on Xemnas, albeit only a light one. Xemnas seemed just as surprised as he was, his guard dropping for a moment and giving Riku the time to land several hits and push him away.

Sora frowned, glancing at Riku in confusion. "Why are all his attacks so much weaker now? Is Kingdom Hearts weakening him that much?"

Riku chuckled, trying to catch his breath. His showy manner of attacking was taking its toll on him. "It's weakening him quite a bit, but he's also not used to having to focus on everything he does so much. Normally he'd be able to sense if someone was close to him without any conscious thought. His lasers would also aim themselves at whatever he wanted to destroy automatically. Because of Kingdom Hearts, his senses and reflexes are dulled and he has to pay attention to what he does. Those shields of his won't just appear without him having to consciously create them, and it costs him a lot more effort to fire his lasers from any other angle than from where he's standing. He's so used to being the strongest person and not having to pay attention to people, he has to learn how to fight properly again."

"Is that what you think?" Xemnas asked from where he had stood back up, sounding forcefully calm considering the irritation he'd previously shown. "I can end this fight whenever I want."

"You would've already done it if that was true." Riku smirked. "Admit it, we're doing better than you'd ever imagined. You haven't had a fight like this in centuries, and you're just not sure how to handle it anymore."

Xemnas' eyes narrowed, the forced calm gone in an instant. "You'll regret saying that when I show you how wrong you really are."

Before Riku could answer, the dark power inside of Xemnas sparked wildly. Sora took a step back as the felt the amount of force behind the attack Xemnas was preparing. Lasers started to shoot at them rapidly from all sides, making it impossible for them to do anything but block them. Sora's eyes widened as the lasers continued to shoot, barely able to deflect them all. If he failed to block even a single laser he knew he wouldn't' be able to recover before he was dead. One wrong move right now would cost him his life.

He could hear Xemnas laughing from where he stood, enjoying watching them far too much. "Keep moving or it'll all be over!"

Sora's grip on his keyblade tightened as he continued to block, oddly relieved that Riku was there as well so he could be relatively sure he wouldn't be attacked from at least one side. His arm was becoming tired, though, and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer. He was having trouble focussing his eyes as well, the seemingly infinite amount of lasers slowly wearing his mind down.

Just as he was sure they were going to die if Xemnas didn't let up soon, a fireball shot through the wall of lasers. Several more followed, cancelling out most of the lasers. Xemnas stopped his attack, and Sora looked in the direction of the portal in amazement to see a pissed-off Roxas and an incredibly uncomfortable-looking Axel standing there. Both of them were covered in bruises, but seeming fine otherwise.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, alarm bells went off when he looked at Roxas. Sora's relief at seeing his brother wavered as he felt a very weakened version of the darkness he sensed from Axel coming from Roxas. He frowned in confusion, wondering what in the world had happened for Roxas to feel that way to him. There was still a powerful source of light inside him, so nothing seemed to have really changed but…

What was that source of darkness?

"You? Saïx should've taken care of you!" Xemnas snapped at the two, looking beyond irritated that he'd have to contend with even more people now.

"Yeah, well, things happen." Roxas glared at the man. "Things don't always go the way you want them to. Life tends to screw you over that way."

Sora couldn't help but smile at the comment. Darkness or no darkness, Roxas would never change.

Xemnas' hands tightened on the lightsabre–swords in his hands. "Well, I suppose I'll have to finish what he started, then."

Roxas summoned his keyblades to his hands, and Sora looked at them curiously as two completely different keyblades appeared. His smile widened as he noticed that one of them had the general shape of a sword. "Finally got what you wanted?" he asked, still trying to catch his breath.

Roxas glanced over at him and smirked. "You know I always get what I want eventually."

They all looked back at Xemnas as the man growled and fired a volley of lasers at each of them, all of which were blocked just in time. "You two didn't even have the power to come near me before! I can kill you as easily as I could kill an ant!"

Roxas snorted, readying his keyblades to attack. "We'll just see about that."

This time when the fight resumed, Xemnas tried to keep all of them at a distance. The screens of darkness he used to defend himself sprang up all over the field constantly, trying to stop them from getting any closer. Roxas only took a moment to figure out that he could smash the shields without too much effort, and to Sora's surprise even Axel's fireballs were destroying them easily. Within no time, Sora and Roxas were hitting Xemnas as fast as they could, Axel and Riku staying back a bit further and destroying the shields Xemnas tried to throw up. Like last time, the lasers were the only thing Xemnas could really use to hurt them, his lightsabre–swords far too busy blocking their keyblades and often not even managing that much now that he was being attacked by someone who also had two weapons. For the first time during the fight, a hint of panic entered Xemnas' eyes as he realised he might actually lose.

"Sora, use your elemental attack!" Riku called from behind, a ball of darkness shooting past Sora's head and shattering one of the shields before it had the time to form completely.

Sora glanced to his right, trying to decide if Roxas would be able to keep Xemnas busy long enough for him to focus. So far he hadn't had the time to focus long enough for his elemental attack, but if Roxas could juts keep Xemnas busy long enough…

"Do it!" Roxas snapped at him, swinging his keyblade hard enough to push Xemnas back and away from him. Sora nodded, jumping back and focusing on the elemental power inside of him. It sparked almost immediately, feeding off the immeasurable amount of light in Kingdom Hearts. The pillars of light that shot up from the ground were barely visible in the already bright surroundings, but Xemnas' cry of pain as the first pillar hit him said more than enough about how real they were.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Roxas jumping out of range of his attack, his brother seeming to focus on something for a moment, before pillars of light appeared around him as well. Xemnas, just having tried to jump out of range of Sora's attack, hit one of the pillars in mid-air and was thrown back into Sora's attack, screaming in both pain and anger as he was hit once more. Balls of light shot from where Roxas stood, making sure Xemnas wouldn't be able to jump away from Sora's attack again.

Balls of both fire and darkness joined in the attack as well, continuing to attack as Sora's own attack slowly faded and stopped. He fell to his knees panting, watching the pillars of light surrounding Roxas fading away as well, though Axel and Riku continued to attack Xemnas until they were completely exhausted as well. Xemnas fell to the ground as the last fireball hit him, groaning as he hit the ground but the dark power inside of him not fading away.

Sora swallowed as he watched the man struggle back to his feet, glaring at them murderously. He'd put all of his power into his attack and he was fairly sure the same applied to the others. If Xemnas attacked them now, none of them would be able to put up much of a fight.

Xemnas opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as rose petals suddenly filled the air. They floated in the air for a moment before starting to swirl around wildly, making it almost impossible to see what exactly was happening to Xemnas. Sora glanced over his shoulder to see a thoroughly beaten-up and heavily panting Marluxia standing in front of the portal.

As he looked back, he could see small cuts appearing wherever the rose petals came into contact with Xemnas' body. Xemnas, his power already weakened from the previous barrage attacks, could do nothing but stand there as Marluxia's attack cut him up. Darkness started to flow from the wounds the man had gotten throughout the fight, slowly eating away at Xemnas' body. Despite this and Marluxia's still-ongoing assault, Xemnas struggled to stay on his feet, legs shaking beneath him as they tried to support his weight. His gaze fixed itself on the hearts that surrounded them, his arm reaching out as if trying to grab them. Xemnas took one step closer before falling to the ground, his legs finally giving out from under him. He continued to struggle, fighting the darkness that was slowly consuming him, until there was nothing left, every trace of his power completely gone.

The rose petals disappeared and Sora heard Marluxia fall to his knees in the silence that followed. The silence continued for several long moments until Riku spoke up, a look of disbelief on his face, "I can't believe we did it…"

"You're not the only one." Marluxia chuckled, his voice sounding weary. "I thought for sure I'd find you all dead by now since it took longer than expected to kill Xaldin."

"Wouldn't you have just loved that." Axel chuckled, sitting back and grinning over at Roxas. "Well, I guess this means you're all mine tonight."

Sora glanced over at Roxas with a raised eyebrow, a grin slowly starting to form on his lips. "Does that mean…?"

Roxas' eyebrow twitched, and for a moment Sora could've sworn he was going to just throw his keyblade at Axel again. Then Roxas sighed and shook his head. "I hate all of you sometimes."

Axel's grin widened. "Sure you do."

Sora glanced between the two before crawling over to Roxas and sitting down next to him with a grin. "You finally gave in to him."

Roxas crossed his arms stubbornly. "He refused to let me go before I'd rewarded him. I said nothing of us being together."

"Really?" Axel raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Because it didn't seem that way when we were making out."

"I did not need to know that." Riku sighed before glancing over at Roxas with a frown. "So why do you suddenly feel like a Nobody?"

"Because I am one… I think… I'm honestly not sure what I am right now. Axel only took half my heart so I can still feel pretty much everyth—"

"He did what?" Sora stared at Roxas wide-eyed before glaring over at Axel. Before he could open his mouth to start yelling at the redhead, Roxas grabbed his arm.

"Don't get angry at him for this. We couldn't beat Saïx so I told him to take my heart. I figured he'd get a power boost out of it so he could help you guys—"

"You _told_ him to?" Sora stared at him incredulously. "What if you'd turned into a Heartless instead of a Nobody? And what would _I_ have done?" He was very close to hyperventilating again and he knew it. He struggled to try and calm himself down, reminding himself that Roxas was sitting in front of him and hadn't turned into a Heartless.

Roxas averted his eyes, knowing all too well why Sora was reacting the way he was. "Saïx would've killed us if I hadn't. At least this way I knew Axel would be able to help keep you alive."

Silence once again fell over them, though it was a considerably heavier and more awkward one. Sora honestly wasn't sure if he wanted to punch or hug Roxas more at that moment, though this did explain why Axel had suddenly become so much stronger.

Marluxia was the one to break the silence this time, his voice sounding both amused and confused at the same time. "We just beat Xemnas and you all look as though the world is ending."

Roxas looked back and forced a smile. "He's right, we ought to be celebrating."

The anger and panic inside him slowly faded, and Sora couldn't help but grin back at Roxas. "We finally saved Kairi."

Both their eyes shot towards the portal at the same time as they remembered that all seven princesses were still lying at the top of Xemnas' castle, unconscious and completely vulnerable. "I think we might want to go and check on them…" Sora laughed nervously.

"We should get out of here anyway." Riku got to his feet, taking a moment to steady himself after he'd used up almost all of his energy. "Most of the people here are probably having trouble resisting the hearts." His eyes flickered over to Marluxia, the pink-haired Nobody being the biggest liability in their group right now.

Marluxia simply waved his hand dismissively as he caught the look. "I've already said that I have no real interest in Kingdom hearts. I'd prefer staying alive and having some more fun over trying to get my hands on these hearts and being killed by you guys." He, too, got to his feet, smiling in that disturbingly charming way as he waved. "Perhaps until next time. Au revoir." With that, he stepped through the portal and into a Dark Corridor he created on the other side.

Sora shook his head as he watched the Dark Corridor disappear. "He gives me the creeps."

"You're not the only one." Roxas sighed before getting up, holding a hand out for him to take. "Come on, let's get out of here and figure out how to close that damned portal."

Sora took the hand and grinned as Roxas pulled him to his feet. "Yeah, let's go."

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><p><strong>Y'know, if they'd just found Demyx and made him fight Xemnas, they would've won in no time. Seriously, Demyx would've just told Xemnas to beat 99 of his freaking clones in 30 seconds. Obviously Xemnas doesn't have Firaga, so Demyx would've won.<strong>

**Somehow.**

**Because obviously you listen to ridiculous rules like that.**

**Have I mentioned I'm obsessively fighting the Data Nobodies and that I'm getting my ass kicked by them?**

**Well anyway, we're almost done! I've only got to write that damned final chapter and then you'll all have to find a new way to spend your weekends. Although it'll be hard, I'm sure you guys can find something to fill the void of this story. XD See you all next week!**


	23. Something About a Final Destination

**Sorry for the wait, guys. This chapter turned out a lot longer than I thought it would (like, twice as long or something) so it ended up taking longer to write than I'd planned. Regardless, here is the final chapter at long last! I gotta say, I'm damned proud of how this thing turned out. I might not be happy with every little thing I wrote, but I doubt any author has ever managed that. I want to thank everyone who reviewed once more for taking the time to tell me what they thought; you're all awesome. Now, enjoy the last chapter and R&R guys!  
><strong>

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><p><strong><em>-<em>**-: 23 :-**_-_**  
><span>Something About a Final Destination<span>****

Roxas swore that he'd go insane if he saw one more Heartless today.

After they'd left Kingdom Hearts, thousands of Heartless had been approaching them. Of course, it hadn't looked _too_ bad when they'd first stepped through the portal since the top of the castle only allowed so many Heartless at once, but for every Heartless they'd beaten a new one had just appeared. The seemingly endless stream of Heartless combined with the fact that they had to protect the princesses and the portal had been beyond exhausting. The fact that they'd only been able to use their normal weapons because they'd used up their elemental magic hadn't helped much either.

They might've gone on fighting until every Heartless in the Realm of Darkness had shown up to try and kill them, if Axel — yes, _Axel_ of all people — hadn't come up with the idea to start taking the princesses away from the castle. As soon as the first Princess had disappeared through a conveniently placed Dark Corridor, the portal to Kingdom Hearts had closed. Once all seven of the princesses had been taken out of the Realm of Darkness, the Heartless had all scattered and left in record time. Roxas could still clearly remember how dangerous Sora's light had felt to him as he'd been transforming, so he knew all too well why the Heartless had fled so quickly.

Since they hadn't wanted to stay near a portal leading to the Realm of Darkness, they'd quickly taken the princesses from the Destiny Islands, where Axel had dumped them, to Arabia. They'd had no idea where all of the princesses were actually from, but at least they'd be in the right place to drop one of them off. As Sora had insisted they make sure all the princesses were okay — meaning they had to wait until they'd all woken up — they'd once again taken up shelter in one of the many rundown, abandoned houses. Now, several sleepless hours of refusing Axel because there was no privacy — or bed, for that matter — in the house later, Roxas was staring out of a window as the sun came up. Axel was sitting behind him somewhere, sulking because he'd have to wait longer for his reward, and Sora and Riku were somewhere upstairs, supposedly keeping an eye on the princesses.

Roxas rather doubted they were paying too much attention to anyone but each other, but whatever.

"You're going to burn if you keep sitting there, you know." Roxas glanced over his shoulder to see Axel sitting in a dark corner of the room, as far away from the windows as he could. He looked back outside, watching the shadows slowly shrink and the sunlight creeping closer to him.

"Maybe, but since I'm not a full Nobody, I'd like to know how fast I burn." While they'd been in the Realm of Darkness, he hadn't had the time to worry about what had happened to him. However, now that things had settled down and he had the time to think everything through, he was forced to deal with the changes.

The fact that he was now something along the lines of a half-demon didn't bother him too much; he'd been around Axel and Riku long enough to know being a Nobody didn't mean the end of the world. Since he still had his emotions, the biggest problem he'd have had with becoming a Nobody didn't apply to him, and the hunger for people's hearts was more than manageable, although it was bothering him more now with the Princesses of Heart so close by.

What did bother him were the things he wasn't sure about yet. He'd already found out that he couldn't create Dark Corridors, so obviously there were abilities he hadn't gotten because he wasn't a full Nobody. Also, although he hadn't lost his emotions, he didn't have full control over them anymore either. He'd found his emotions switched off twice already without having noticed when they'd switched off. In both cases the shock of finding himself not caring about anything in the slightest had forced his emotions back on, but that wouldn't keep working forever. This combined with everything he didn't know about his current situation made him more than a little uncomfortable. He wanted to find out what he could and couldn't do fast.

As the first rays of sunlight hit his arm, the skin there felt as though he was keeping it too close to an oven. The heat wasn't quite bad enough to instantly burn him, but he was sure it wouldn't stay that way for long. Within five minutes his arm acquired a redish glow, though it still didn't actually hurt. Regardless, Roxas moved his arm away from the light and decided against sitting near the window for the rest of the day to piss Axel off. As much as he enjoyed doing everything in his power to refuse Axel, he wasn't masochistic enough to be burned to death for it.

Axel grinned at him as he walked over to the dark corner, looking almost triumphant. "Finally gave up?"

"Shut up." Roxas sat down next to the redhead, glaring half-heartedly at him as he was immediately dragged into Axel's lap. "You know, I might be tired, but I think I can sit on my own."

"No doubt," Axel shrugged, "but since you insist on breaking your promise, I'm going to molest you at every opportunity until I get what I want."

Roxas crossed his arms and gave the redhead a pointed look. "Like you'd stop if I did let you have your way with me."

Axel pretended to think about it before waving his hand dismissively. "Probably not, but there's only one way to make sure."

Roxas rolled his eyes at the suggestive look Axel gave him, pretending as hard as he could that it wasn't affecting him in any way other than to annoy him. "Yes, I'm sure the already traumatized girls want nothing more than to see us fucking when they come down here."

"Exactly!" Roxas shook his head, ignoring the grin on Axel's face and just closing his eyes. He mentally blamed the fatigue for not trying to free himself from Axel's grasp. Despite the fact that there was no denying how he felt — mentally or out loud — he still couldn't help but come up with excuses constantly. If anything, he supposed it would keep Axel from getting bored with him.

The next thing he was aware of was a nagging sensation at the back of his mind. He tried to ignore it, nuzzling closer to the warmth holding him. The nagging sensation only increased until it turned into the hunger he tried so very hard to suppress, and Roxas was forced to pay attention to it.

His eyes opened and for a moment, all he could think about was getting to the source of the light he'd sensed. Then he saw Kairi slowly walking down the stairs apprehensively, trying to hide how wary she really felt with Axel — and now him too, Roxas realised — in the room.

He took a moment to suppress the hunger completely, reminding himself over and over again that this was _Kairi_. He pushed away from Axel's chest as soon as he knew he could control himself, forcing a grin as Kairi reached the bottom step. "You're looking better. How do you feel?"

"As though someone removed a couple of tonnes from my shoulders. How about you?" Her eyes flickered over to Axel unsurely,

"Trapped," he answered dryly, Axel snorting and actually pulling him closer, "but fine otherwise."

A true smile broke through on Kairi's face as she seemed to decide that regardless of what he felt like to her now, he was still the same person. She walked over, sitting down with her knees pulled up to her chest. "So, what did I miss? I would've asked Sora to fill me in but that Riku guy seemed to be… keeping him busy."

"Please, no details. I'm still resisting the urge to kill Riku." Roxas glared at Kairi as she giggled at his statement, a smile forcing its way onto his face after a moment. No doubt what had happened to Kairi had affected her more than she was currently letting on, and would continue to affect her for quite some time to come, but at least she seemed okay for the most part.

By the time he was done filling Kairi in, reluctantly including his own situation with Axel after some insistent questioning, he could sense some of the other princesses upstairs stirring as well. He glanced up at the ceiling, wondering why they still felt so much more subdued than Kairi.

"Why is the ceiling suddenly so interesting?" Roxas looked back at Kairi distractedly, taking a moment to refocus on the part of his mind that didn't want to murder everyone — except for Axel, ironically — around him.

"Some of the other princesses woke up. I think I should go and check if Sora is actually keeping an eye on them, or if Riku's keeping him too busy." He turned to Axel, trying to free himself from the redhead's grasp. "Think you can manage without molesting me for a while?"

"I make no promises. I'll just come after you once I simply can't stand it anymore." Axel grinned in a way that suggested he'd be following in less than a minute. Roxas rolled his eyes, trying to get up quickly as Axel leaned down to kiss him, only to be held in place more firmly. He ignored the giggle from Kairi as he gave in to Axel and kissed back — grudgingly, or so he told himself — before fleeing upstairs after Axel had finally released him. Once again he wondered what the hell he'd been on when he'd decided Axel was his type.

To his great relief, he did not find a half-naked Sora and Riku when he came to the room the princesses were sleeping in. Both were completely dressed and, although both looked as though they'd been doing other things until quite recently, they were trying to talk to one of the princesses that had woken up. Two of them had woken up, neither of whom he knew the names of. They were huddled together, looking at Sora as though he was the scariest person alive. Their eyes constantly flickered over to Riku when Sora tried to ask them a question, almost as if they were expecting him to do something.

"Come on, we can't help you if you don't tell us where you're from…" Sora looked at the two girls pleadingly, silently begging them to answer him. The older of the two girls, a brunette wearing what seemed to be a rather dirty, yellow, ballroom dress, hesitated for a moment, her mouth opening a fraction to answer, before closing again as she glanced back at Riku. She pulled the other girl, a blonde who seemed to be the youngest of the entire group, closer to her and stared down at the ground silently.

"Why do they keep looking at you?" Roxas frowned as he looked over at Riku, the other sighing as he ran a hand through his hair.

"They know I'm Xemnas' son. They think I'll go and tell him if they do anything they're not supposed to."

"And they won't believe me when I say we got rid of Xemnas." Sora stood up and pouted. "They think I'm with Xemnas as well."

"You probably shouldn't have been making out with Xemnas' son when they woke up if you wanted to avoid that misunderstanding." Roxas rolled his eyes as Sora's face went red, wishing he hadn't been right. "Anyway, can they even understand us? I mean, not everyone in the world speaks English."

"They do," Riku answered, pointing over at the youngest girl, "She's from Britain, and the rest all know English as a second language. Xaldin and Larxene never had any problems manipulating or intimidating them by just talking to them."

"Wait, if you know where they're from, why do we need to ask them?"

"Because I only know what countries they're from, not their home addresses." Riku shrugged. "I was too young when Xemnas found most of them, and I barely remember a time before at least four of them were already at the castle."

They heard a groan and looked down to see Jasmine stirring. She blinked a few times, looking around in confusion, before looking up at them in surprise as she finally spotted them. "Where are we?"

The two other girls let out small gasps as Jasmine spoke, looking over at her wide-eyed. Jasmine looked over at them in confusion at their odd reaction. "Who are—" She cut herself of as recognition flashed across her face. Apparently the princesses could recognise each other even if they'd never met. "Oh…"

"We're in Arabia again." Sora grinned, happy to finally have one of the princesses talk to him, even if it was the one he didn't have to ask where she lived. "We beat Xemnas so you can go back home now."

A look of both relief and disappointment crossed Jasmine's face, the relief far outweighing the disappointment. "Really? I can go back home?"

At the word 'home', the other two princesses glanced between Sora and Jasmine apprehensively. They looked at each other for a moment as Sora nodded enthusiastically, the older of the two looking back and speaking up softly, "We can really go home?" Her eyes immediately shot over to Riku, one hand coming to cover her mouth as if she'd done something wrong.

Sora didn't even seem to notice the fear in the girl's eyes, grin widening at finally having gotten her to speak. "Yeah! That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

The next few hours were spent on trying to convincing the two girls — Belle and Alice — as well as the other three princesses — Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White — after they'd woken up, that Xemnas really was gone. If Belle and Alice had already been hard to convince, the last three were impossible. Riku told them that the three had already been in the Realm of Darkness since before he'd been born, and Xaldin had actually started to try and convince them it was their duty to open Kingdom Hearts for Xemnas as a challenge. The result was that, although they answered whenever they were asked something, their reply would always revolve around the fact that Xemnas couldn't have possibly died because he was the man destined to rule the world, and that they didn't want to go back home because they belonged by Master Xemnas' side.

Since the princesses seemed to be willing to believe each other more than anyone else, Kairi was called to help talk some sense into the three girls. Axel, probably bored with just sitting around, followed her upstairs. The moment the three girls saw him, all their attention was on him, questioning where Master Xemnas was and why people were saying he was dead. Axel, completely confused by their odd behaviour, simply stared at them. "What?"

Riku rubbed his temple, trying to suppress the headache that had been forming slowly. "Xemnas killed any Nobody that didn't join him. Since you took half of Roxas' heart, you're far too strong for Xemnas to have ignored. They think you're working for him."

"And that makes them worship me because…?" Axel glanced back down at the three girls, watching them look at him with adoration. "Most of the princesses have been terrified of me. I know they _should_ worship me like everyone else, but—"

Roxas kicked one of Axel's legs to shut him up, glaring mildly at the redhead in annoyance. Axel simply grinned at him with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Oh, I'll make a believer out of you yet."

"Try me." Roxas' eyes narrowed, ignoring the shiver that ran down his spine as Axel gave him that suggestive look that spoke volumes of what was going to happen as soon as they were finally alone. "Oh, I will. Don't you worry about that."

"Less flirting, more convincing these three." Riku sighed, rubbing his temple a bit more forcefully.

Another hour went by before they finally gave up — except for Sora, who continued to argue with them in a discussion that was rapidly devolving into an is-not!–is-too! debate — concentrating instead on the princesses that did believe them already.

"Since Sora seems to be determined to continue this debate," Riku glanced down at Sora with a look that severely questioned his sanity, "I think we should take the other princesses home while he's watching those three."

"Sure, but I can't make any Dark Corridors so I can't actually take anyone anywhere." Roxas glanced over at Axel with a frown, "Then again, I don't think any of them want to be alone with Axel so I guess I can go with him. At least half of me feels like it's trying to protect them."

"Sure, you two take Jasmine, I'll take Alice. First one back takes Belle. We'll figure out what to do about those three after that." Riku glanced over at the arguing foursome again. The debate really had devolved into an is-not!–is-too! argument by this point.

"Sure, it's not like we've got anywhere to go," Roxas agreed, his voice sounding more spiteful than he'd intended.

Jasmine raised an eyebrow at the comment, looking at him curiously. "Don't you have a home to go to?"

Roxas grimaced. "We told you everyone was killed when we were attacked by the Heartless. If we'd been found afterwards they would've assumed we'd had something to do with everyone's disappearance. We'd still have that problem if we go home now, and we'd have to explain where we've been all this time too. If we try to tell them what happened, we'd be declared insane. If we show them our keyblades as proof… our mother would die from a heart attack and the media would be all over us. We… can't go home." He glanced over at Sora to make sure he hadn't heard anything, relieved to see him still arguing with the three princesses. He turned back as he sensed Axel creating a Dark Corridor and stepped through it, pointedly pushing away the memories that were trying to resurface.

"What about the island you were attacked on?" Jasmine quickly followed him through the portal, glancing back at it briefly as a shiver ran down her spine, "Weren't you staying there?"

"Yeah, but it's technically used as a survival camp. The only reason we could stay there was because the police were still investigating what had happened. The owner of the island will probably have trouble getting people to go to the island for a while, but people will still go there again once the police investigation is over." And those people would probably attract Heartless again. He'd have to ask Riku if there wasn't a way to close the portal permanently so there wouldn't be a repeat of what had happened to them. That, or they'd somehow have to keep a very close eye on the thing. There was no way in hell that he was going to let an attack like the one on them happen again.

Jasmine fell silent at his answer, a frown on her face. Roxas ignored it, continuing to distract himself from thinking too much about the night the Heartless had attacked.

It took another Dark Corridor before Axel could get them into the city surrounding the palace, the first one having lead them to the middle of the desert. Roxas was about to ask if Jasmine would be fine if they left her there, when soldiers suddenly rushed at them, weapons pointed at them from every side as the guards surrounded them. From the corner of his eyes, Roxas could see Axel looking around in amusement, obviously anything but impressed. Roxas couldn't say he was quite as relaxed as the redhead, far more uncomfortable with the idea that he might have to hurt these people to get away.

A bulky man stepped forward, eyes focussed on him and Axel as he spoke angrily. Roxas frowned, still not understanding a word of Arabic, and figuring that guessing at what the man was saying wouldn't get them anywhere.

Before he could even try to answer, Jasmine spoke up calmly. The bulky man's gaze shifted to her, and his brows pulled together into a wary frown. Roxas watched the ensuing exchange in confusion, Jasmine growing visibly more irritated with the guard as the conversation went on. After a few moments she snapped something that Roxas could only guess was an order from the way the guard reacted. His gaze shifted back to him and Axel and he glared, but gave a nod to whatever Jasmine had just said to him. Then he turned around, shouting something to the other guards as he started towards the palace. The other guards put their weapons away, still watching them warily.

Jasmine turned back to them with a satisfied smile. "Razoul," she motioned towards the man she'd been arguing with, "is the captain of all the guards in Agrabah. He has been looking for me ever since the Heartless attacked, and was on his way back to my father when he saw us. He thought you two were the ones who had kidnapped me."

"Right, because it's such a smart idea to sneak around the city closest to the palace when you've kidnapped the princess." Roxas rolled his eyes. "Anyway, these guys can take over from here so Axel and I should get back to Sora."

Jasmine frowned, glancing over at Axel momentarily as she seemed to decide on something, before shaking her head. "I wish to reward you for saving my life. Please come with me to the palace."

"Reward? Did I hear the magic word?" Roxas glanced over his shoulder to see Axel's attention suddenly completely on Jasmine. Apparently the guards' attempts at seeming intimidating could not keep him amused enough to have missed Jasmine's offer.

"You really don't have to reward us." He ignored the glare Axel sent his way, the look only amusing him.

"Perhaps not, but I want to. Please, come with me."

Roxas would've protested again as Jasmine started to follow Razoul towards the palace, but Axel grabbed his arm and dragged him along. "Come on, it would be rude not to accept."

"Yeah, I'm sure not being rude is one of your main concerns in life." Regardless, he let Axel drag him along. He honestly didn't feel as though Jasmine should reward them. After all, Kairi had been their main concern this entire time. Saving the other princesses and everyone else on the planet had, of course, become their priority as well, but Kairi had still been the most important person they'd been saving. Still, after everything they'd been through, he couldn't help but feel as though they did deserve a reward of some kind.

It only took them a few minutes to reach the palace. As soon as they entered the throne room, a cry of happiness erupted from a short, rather fat man sitting on the throne. The man jumped up and rushed towards Jasmine with outstretched arms. Jasmine smiled, hugging the man as he reached her and speaking to him in Arabic.

Roxas glanced between the Sultan and Princess before deciding that Jasmine probably took after her mother. He would never have guessed these two to be related if he'd met them under any other circumstances.

For several minutes, Jasmine and her father spoke, Jasmine motioning to them every so often as she seemed to explain what had happened to her. Roxas guessed that she was telling the true story from some of the movements she made, and he was surprised that the Sultan listened to her with a look of wonder on his face. There wasn't a single trace of doubt on the man's face, seeming to believe every word he was being told without question.

When Jasmine was finally done speaking, the Sultan turned to them with a look of fervent gratitude on his face, switching to English as he addressed them.

"I thank you for protecting my daughter. Please, is there anything I can do to repay you?"

"Well—" Roxas elbowed Axel before he could continue that sentence. No doubt he would've asked for half — if not all — the riches in the palace or something equally preposterous.

Before he could say anything himself, Jasmine spoke up once again in Arabic. Her father turned to her, frowning at what she was saying. He seemed to ask a few things before smiling broadly and turning back to them. "My daughter tells me you have no home to return to. What if I provide you with one as a reward?"

"And stay in _Arabia_?" Roxas once again elbowed Axel, his comment having sounded almost as if he'd been offended.

"What Axel means is that we couldn't possibly ask to stay here. We wouldn't want to trouble—"

The Sultan's laughter interrupted his attempt at politely declining the offer and the man waved his hand dismissively. Roxas stopped speaking uncertainly, wondering what was so funny about Axel being a rude jerk — as per usual — and him trying to decline a very generous offer. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the offer; he knew they needed a place to live. However, Arabia wasn't the best place for that. Axel and he wouldn't be able to walk around because of the sunlight, and none of them spoke Arabic. The latter could, of course, very easily be solved by simply learning the language, but the former was a different story. The palace had windows _everywhere_ so Axel and he would be forced to stay in a darkened room at all time. Rain was a rarity so they didn't even have cloudy days to look forward to. Sunlight might be a problem wherever they ended up living, but Arabia was still one of their worst options.

"My daughter has already told me staying here would not be a good solution. She says there is a place you've been staying at, though."

It took a moment for Roxas to realise what the Sultan was implying. When he did catch on, his eyes widened. "You want to give us the Destiny islands?"

The smile on the Sultan's face turned into a grin as he clapped happily. "Yes! And while I take care of that, I insist you stay in the palace. I know it isn't the best place for you to stay, but I will do everything in my power to make your stay here as comfortable as possible."

Roxas was not struck speechless very often, but for several moments he simply stared in shock at the happily grinning man in front of him. The Sultan had already started ordering several of his guards around when he finally snapped out of his stupor and his brain kicked in. "Wait, we can't ask you to do that! Besides, there's a portal on the island that the Heartless can use! One of our friends is a Princess of Heart and she'd attract the Heartless like crazy!" He wasn't even entirely sure if Jasmine had explained what everything he'd just said was, but he was still too stunned to care. The Sultan wanted to buy them an _island_. Even if the current owner was willing to sell, it couldn't be cheap. This was _insane_.

Axel was the one to elbow him this time, obviously not seeing any problem with being given an entire island. "Will you let the man reward us?"

"At least _try_ not to be a selfish jerk for once." Roxas gave the redhead an irritated glare. "An entire island is too damned much, and Kairi wouldn't be able to come with us."

"She can stay here." Roxas looked over at Jasmine in surprise, the princess seeming rather smug with herself. "Kairi does not have any problems with sunlight, and there is no portal near here. You can come and visit her whenever you want, so there is no problem."

"Perfect!" The Sultan's disappointed face lit up once more and he continued to order people around. Roxas would've continued to protest but Axel clamped a hand over his mouth to stop him and grinned happily. "We'd be honoured to accept. You might also want to keep the other three princesses here until they've been unbrainwashed. Come on, Roxy. Let's go get the others!"

And before Roxas could struggle free, Axel had already dragged him through a Dark Corridor. Roxas really hated the fact that he couldn't make those things.

He glared at Axel as soon as the redhead released him, the Dark Corridor already gone again. "Get us back there. We can't let the Sultan buy us a freaking island and then dump Kairi with them."

Axel snorted. "I'm pretty sure that guy wouldn't have offered this if he didn't want to, and I rather doubt Kairi will bankrupt them either. She'll have a lot of fun being bestest of friends with the Princess. Now, stop protesting when life finally stops sucking for a while, and just accept the fact that we're getting an island."

Roxas crossed his arms stubbornly, watching as Axel created another Dark Corridor to get them back to the house they were staying at. Axel turned back to him with a smirk just before he stepped through the portal. "Besides, this finally gets me a bed and that privacy you keep demanding. I want my other reward."

For the second time within an hour, Roxas was left staring in disbelief. Not for the first time he wondered what in the world was wrong with him for having fallen for _Axel_. He watched the redhead quickly flee through the portal, no doubt expecting a keyblade or five to be thrown at his head. Roxas shook his head, rubbing at his temple as he felt the beginnings of a headache. Life was insane.

'_I need a therapist…'_

* * *

><p>Roxas sat down on the dock of the small harbour to the Destiny Islands, watching the sun set and completely ignoring the slight burn the sunlight caused. The light would be gone by the time it would truly start to burn his skin, so he didn't really care if his skin felt heated for a while. He'd just really wanted to get some peace and quiet for a while.<p>

It had been a week since they'd started living on the Destiny Islands. No matter how much he'd told Jasmine's father that an island was too much, the man had insisted that the life of his daughter was worth far more than any amount of money he was spending. Roxas had eventually given up on his protests, and he really was happy by this point that the Sultan hadn't backed down. They could keep an eye on the portal on the island now without anyone interfering, and they had a place to actually call home. The fact that part of that home was currently being rebuilt — because yes, the Sultan had also insisted on building them a proper house-slash-mansion to live in — diddn't even matter to him. If anything, the fact that the Sultan was spending even more money on them bothered him more.

"You know, Axel's going to figure out you come here whenever you get annoyed with him sooner or later." Sora sat down next to him, grinning broadly. Roxas simply shrugged.

"I'm pretty safe as long as the sun's still out. Besides, you know I can't stand people constantly being around me for too long."

"That's what you get for falling in love with Axel." Roxas glared at his brother, only making Sora's grin widen. Knowing he wasn't going to intimidate Sora like he had in the past, he rolled his eyes and looked back up at the sky and decided to just change the subject. "I still can't believe this place is ours."

"Yeah, Jasmine's dad is awesome." Sora looked up at the sky as well. "Insane, but awesome."

They sat in silence until the sun had set completely. Once the sky had turned dark, Sora glanced over at him once more. "So, what do we do now? I mean, we've stopped Xemnas so…"

"I don't know." Roxas frowned, that exact question having been on his mind for a while now. "I guess we should figure out what the old Keyblade Clan did exactly and hope to god getting kids isn't the only way to get more Keyblade Masters. For some reason, I rather doubt either of us is getting any children."

Sora snickered. "I can just see it now, you and Axel as parents."

Roxas shuddered at the thought. "That just can't be healthy. A kid with genes from Axel and me would probably turn into a sociopath."

Sora laughed at the comment and Roxas couldn't help but chuckle as well. They sat in silence for a while longer before Sora got to his feet and held out his hand to help Roxas up as well. "Come on, before Axel finds out where you keep hiding from him."

Roxas sighed, reluctantly taking the offered hand and getting to his feet. "Right, insanity calls."

As they walked back to the camp, despite the fact that he still missed Twilight Town and everyone there, Roxas couldn't help but feel completely at ease. As insane as life had become, and no matter how much he might've hated everything that had happened, he supposed things weren't as bad as he always made them out to be. To himself, he might even admit that he was pretty content with how things were right now.

"Things aren't that bad right now, are they?"

Roxas glanced to his side, Sora smiling back at him. He looked forward again, the camp already coming into view. No doubt Axel was waiting for him there to drag him off into bed while Riku and Sora watched in amusement. What the two went to do after he'd been dragged off he didn't want to think about, no matter how obvious it might be.

"No, I guess not."

* * *

><p><strong>DONE! The ending isn't really politically correct (especially with the current situation in Egypt, Libya, etc.) but come on guys, it's a fanfic. Also, any requests for a sequel will be utterly ignored unless I can actually come up with a proper plotline. Sequels tend to just be lamer versions of the original, and I plainly refuse to write something like that. I might have a vague idea for something I could do, but unless I can work that out to my satisfaction, this story is complete as it is. Really, don't hold your breath.<strong>

**Oh, and I dare you guys to find every little reference I made to the games in here. I put a _lot_ of subtle jokes/complaints in here, so have fun trying to find them all. XD**

**Well, that was pretty much it. Once again thanks to everyone who read this story (especially to the people who also bothered to review) and I really hope you all enjoyed this while it lasted. Review guys!**

**Moony**


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